In this paper, a magnetic multi-walled carbon nanotube (MMWCNT) was developed and investigated to explore the possible application in the simultaneous removal of atrazine and Cu (II) from contaminated water. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area, magnetization measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Thermo-gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses were used to characterize the adsorbent. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to study the sorption performance of MMWCNT. The adsorption of atrazine and Cu (II) were both unfavorable under acidic conditions. The sorption kinetics data were well described by pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The sorption isotherms for atrazine and Cu (II) were better fitted by Freundlich model and Langmuir model, respectively. Cu (II) had a strong suppression effect on atrazine uptake in the simultaneous adsorption and atrazine preloading experiment. As for Cu (II) preloading, the impact of atrazine on Cu (II) desorption was almost negligible. The regeneration of MMWCNT for several cycles using acidic ethanol solution and practical application of MMWCNT were also investigated. Due to its high adsorption capacity, easy separation and effective reusability, MMWCNT showed great potential in wastewater treatment. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.