Air pollution in Algeria is caused by the transport sector in the large cities of Algiers, Oran and Constantine, by burning municipal and medical waste and and by industry.

* Transport sector:

Vehicles, especially the old ones constitute the most important environmental pollutants in major cities and because of the combustion of fuels, a number of pollutants are produced : nitrogen oxides (NOx) comprising nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and nitrogen monoxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), heavy metals like lead and dust, as unburned soot, hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide (CO2) and negligible amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2).

*Incineration of medical waste:

A sheer volume of medical waste is burned in an improper manner, and unhealthy to reduce the cost and tax evasion, Its size is estimated at 124 thousand tons per year.

*Emissions From Insdustry:

For industrial pollution, Cement factories distributed on the total territory are important sources of pollution by particles, as well as by the combustion gases, the cement factories of  " Rais Hamidou, Sour El Ghozlane, Meftah, Chlef, Zahana, Béni Saf, Saïda, Hadjar Soud, Aïn El Kebira, Aïn Touta, Tébessa, Djeniene Meskine" cause an annual influx of an estimated 4569 tons of ozone, and 1,200 tons of carbon dioxide and 464 tons of organic compounds vaporized non-methane, and 1020.000 tons of sulfur dioxide.

Gypsum and Lime Production units is also considered one of the most important sources of air pollutants, in addition to refining factories as a result of the combustion gases as contributing to the increase of greenhouse gases.