The above links for v1.7. However, this worked for me in version 1.9:
Open: app / design / frontend / yourpackage / yourtheme / template / catalog / product / list.phtml and delete or comment:
<?php if($_compareUrl=$this-getAddToCompareUrl($_product)): ?>
<li><span class="separator">|</span>
<a title="<?php echo $this->__('Add to Compare') ?> " href="<?php echo $_compareUrl ?>" rel="tooltip" class="link-compare "><?php echo $this->__('Add toCompare') ?></a></li>
<?php endif; ?>
Do the same with the grid.
: //frontend/yourpackage/yourtheme/template/catalog/product/view/addto.phtml :
<?php
$_compareUrl = $this->helper('catalog/product_compare')->getAddUrl($_product);
?>
<?php if($_compareUrl) : ?>
<li><span class="separator">|</span> <a href="<?php echo $_compareUrl ?>" class="link-compare"><?php echo $this->__('Add to Compare') ?></a></li>-->
<?php endif; ?>
, : //frontend/yourpackage/yourtheme/layout/catalog.xml :
<block type="catalog/product_compare_sidebar" after="cart_sidebar" name="catalog.compare.sidebar" template="catalog/product/compare/sidebar.phtml"/></block>
.