The adsorption of water-soluble dye reactive brilliant blue X-BR onto styrene resin XAD-4 and acrylic ester resins has been dynamically and thermodynamically investigated. YWB-50, one of acrylic ester resins, exhibite the most excellent adsorption properties toward X-BR. The specific surface area of XAD-4 is larger than that of acrylic ester resin; however, the lower amount of dye X-BR is adsorbed onto it. The adsorption behavior observed for XAD-4 resin and acrylic resins is ascribed to the different interaction between adsorbate and adsorbent. Adsorption dynamics and desorption process were also investigated for further exploring the difference of the adsorption behavior and mechanism on styrene resin XAD-4 and acrylic ester resins. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.