The conformal affine sl(2) Toda model coupled to the matter field is treated as a constrained system in the context of Faddeev-Jackiw and the (constrained) symplectic schemes. We recover from this theory either the sine-Gordon or the massive Thirring model, through a process of Hamiltonian reduction, considering the equivalence of the Noether and topological currrents as a constraint and gauge fixing the conformal symmetry. © 2000 Academic Press.