Environmental contamination by organic compounds are not only restricted to water, but extends to soil and groundwater as well. However, highly oxidized compounds, such as halogenated organics and nitro-compounds, can be detoxified employing reducing methods. Permeable reactive barrier is one of the representative technologies where zero-valent metals (ZVMs) are employed for groundwater remediation. However, organics contaminates often contaminate the unsaturated zone above the groundwater. Despite the availability of technologies like soil vapor extraction and bioremediation, removing organic compounds from this zone represents several challenges. In this study, the reduction of nitrobenzene to aniline was achieved using zero-valent iron (ZVI) under unsaturated conditions. Results indicated that the water content was an important variable in this reaction. Under dry conditions (water content = 0.2%), the reduction reaction was inhibited; however, when the water content was between 10% and 25% (saturated condition), ZVI can reduce nitrobenzene. Palladized iron (Pd/Fe) can be used to reduce nitrobenzene when the water content is between 2.5% and 10%. The reaction was evaluated over a wide range of temperatures (10 – 40 °C), and the results indicated that increasing the temperature resulted in increased reaction rates under unsaturated conditions.