Abstract: Dust is controlled on roads, in mines, on mineral and tailings piles, surfaces of pulverized coal and mineral piles contained within open transit cars such as coal cars or trucks, and other surfaces containing coal particles, rock dust, clay, soil particles and other finely divided particles subject to dusting by applying thereto a dust inhibiting amount of a liquid dispersion of watery consistency of highly branched water swellable polymer of acrylamide or an acrylamide-acrylic acid copolymer, branched and/or cross-linked with a multifunctional unsaturated monomer containing more than one ethylenically unsaturated group, said cross-linked polyer or copolymer having a three-dimensional structure and being in the form of microgelatinous particles having a particle size not exceeding approximately one micron in an oil containing emulsion form, and having the properties of swelling dramatically in water and binding dust particles upon adsorption from solution.