In the present study, an attempt was made to find out a low cost adsorbing material for the removal of anionic surfactant (AS) from water. Sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) has been selected as a a representative member of AS. Adsorbents such as granular activated charcoal, waste tire rubber granules, wood charcoal, and silica gel were tried. Kinetic profiles of removal of SDS were generated for all materials to assess the equilibrium time. The percentage of SDS removal at 7h equilibrium time was 96% for granular activated charcoal, 96.5% for waste tire rubber granules, 88% for wood charcoal and 92% for silica gel. Equilibrium studies were carried out for all materials to assess the adsorption equilibrium model that they followed. The correlation coefficients were determined by linear regression analysis, and compared. Maximum adsorption capacities (Q(max)) for granular activated charcoal, waste tire rubber granules, wood charcoal and silica gel, were found to be 3.750, 4.164, 5.170 and 5.181 mg/g, respectively. The removal efficiency, maximum adsorption capacity and cost were the guiding parameters for the selection of the adsorbent in the present study. Considering all factors waste tire rubber granule was chosen as the best adsorbent for AS removal. The physical or chemical characteristics of the rubber granules were reported.