We report here the preparation of lignin-based porous carbon nanosheets (LPCNS) using renewable lignin as a precursor and NaCl as a green template via a KOH activation for removing tetracycline (TC). Different techniques were employed to analyze the physicochemical properties of LPCNS. The LPCNS possessed high specific surface area of 3505 m(2) g(-1) and large pore volume of 2.0 cm(3) g(-1). Moreover, the batch adsorption tests using LPCNS showed that the equilibrium adsorption amount was 1613 mg g(-1) for TC at 298 K. Additionally, the LPCNS exhibited fast kinetics performance and good regeneration performance. This advanced carbon adsorbent with nanosheet structure showed enhanced adsorption performance compared to bulk carbon. This environment-friendly and low-cost salt-template strategy for the fabrication of carbon nanosheets hold promise to design biomass-based carbon nanosheets or even other sheet materials. (C) 2018 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.