Abstract: The present invention concerns a process for acylation of an aromatic compound. The acylation process of the invention consists of reacting the aromatic compound with an acylation agent in the presence of a zeolitic catalyst, and is characterized in that it consists of: mixing the aromatic compound and the acylation compound in any manner; passing said mixture over a catalytic bed comprising at least one zeolite; recirculating the reaction mixture from the catalytic bed over the catalytic bed for a number of times which is sufficient to obtain the desired degree of conversion of the substrate.