Exchangeable aluminum has been used in Brazil as a criteria for lime requirements of soils during the last 16 years. Quantities of limestone to be applied are generally low. With the present work this criteria was evaluated with results of field experiments. The experimental results were obtained in three locations, with five years of corn, one of cotton and one of soybeans on a red-yellow podzolic soil of Mococa, three years of soybeans on a dark red latosol with medium texture of São Simão, and four years of cotton on a latosol of Guaíra. In all cases limestone was applied before the first crops, at four levels. Soil samples were taken before each crop. Yields increased even with doses of limestone superior to those sufficient for practical neutralization of exchangeable aluminum, indicating this to be an inadequate criteria to determine lime requirements of soils. Base saturation of the cation exchange capacity at pH 7 is suggested as an alternative criteria.