Lepton number violation and its relation to neutrino masses is investigated in several versions of the $SU(3)_c\otimes SU(3)_L\otimes U(1)_x$ model. Spontaneous and explicit violation and conservation of the lepton number are considered. In one of the models (the so-called economical one), the lepton number is spontaneously violated and it is found that the would be Majoron is not present because it is gauged away, poviding in this way the longitudinal polarization component to a now massive gauge field.