  A complete study of the Higgs sector of the $SU(3)_{c}\otimes
SU(3)_{L}\otimes U(1)_{X}$ model is carried out, obtaining all possible cases
of vacuum expectation values that permit the spontaneous symmetry breaking
pattern$ SU(3)_{L}\otimes U(1)_{X}\to SU(2)_{L}\otimes U(1)_{Y}\to U(1)_{Q}.$
We find the most general Higgs potentials that contain three triplets of Higgs
and one sextet. A detailed study of the scalar sector for different models with
three Higgs triplets is done. The models end up in an electroweak two Higgs
doublet model after the first symmetry breakdown; we find that the low energy
limit depends on a trilinear parameter of the Higgs potential, and that the
decoupling limit from the electroweak two Higgs doublet model to the minimal
standard model can be obtained quite naturally.
