The effect of almost low concentrations of alumina hydrophilic (bare surface) and hydrophobic (modified surface with hexadecanoic acid) nanoparticles on interfacial tension of methylbenzene (toluene)−water was investigated based on experimental results from drop weight tensiometry. Nanoparticles were suspended in either aqueous or organic phases to provide a stable nanofluid and then were contacted with another phase to measure the interfacial tension. A nanoparticle mass fraction range of 1•10 −5 to 5•10 −4 (± 5•10 −6 ) and a temperature range of [293.2 to 323.2 (± 0.1)] K were used. Interesting trends of interfacial tension variation were revealed with nanoparticles concentration, showing a sharp increase up to 55.7 mN•m −1 (± 0.1 mN•m −1 ) at 293.2 K, and a decrease to about 14.0 mN•m −1 at 323.2 K with hydrophilic and hydrophobic forms, respectively. The effect of increasing temperature was found to reduce interfacial tension within the used ranges and significantly higher with hydrophilic nanoparticles.