The kinetics and mechanism of methylene blue adsorption on perlite have been studied. The effects of various experimental parameters, such as initial dye concentration, temperature and pH on the adsorption rate were investigated. Adsorption measurements show that the process is very fast and physical in nature. The extent of the dye removal increased with increase in the initial concentration of the dye and the initial pH and temperature of solution. Adsorption data were modelled using the first and second-order kinetic equations, mass transfer and intra-particle diffusion models. It was shown that the second-order kinetic equation could best describe the sorption kinetics. The diffusion coefficient, D, was found to increase when the initial dye concentration, pH and temperature were raised. Thermodynamic activation parameters, such as DeltaG*, DeltaS* and DeltaH*, were calculated. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.