In this study, the phenol adsorption capacity of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide modified clays (MMT-CTAB) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide modified pulp tea (WPT-CTAB) were studied. In batch adsorption experiments performed with MMT-CTAB, the effects of parameters such contact time, phenol concentration, pH of solution and adsorbent dosage were investigated. The effect of temperature on phenol adsorption onto MMT-CTAB and WPT-CTAB was examined; equilibrium and thermodynamic studies were completed. The highest phenol removal was found at pH 4.0 for MMT-CTAB and WPT-CTAB. To analyze the kinetics of phenol adsorption onto MMT-CTAB, the pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order kinetic models were applied. The kinetic data fitted better to the pseudo second-order model than the pseudo first-order kinetic model for MMT-CTAB. The characterization of adsorbents in phenol adsorption was clarified with the FTIR technique. Thermodynamic parameters such as H degrees, S degrees and G degrees were calculated for each adsorption process. The adsorption process was found to be exothermic and spontaneous for phenol adsorption by MMT-CTAB and WPT-CTAB. The results were analyzed with the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Harkins-Jura equations using linearized correlation coefficients at different temperatures. The Langmuir equation was found to best represent the equilibrium data for phenol adsorption onto MMT-CTAB and WPT-CTAB.