The efficiency of parthenium weed as an adsorbent for removing Cd(II) from water has been studied. Parthenium is found to exhibit substantial adsorption capacity over a wide range of initial Cd(II) ions concentration. Effect of time, temperature, pH and concentration on the adsorption of Cd(II) was investigated by batch process. Pseudo-first-order and Pseudo-second-order models were evaluated. The kinetics data for the adsorption process obeyed second-order rate equation. The equilibrium data could be described well by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Thermodynamic parameters such as Delta H degrees, Delta S degrees and Delta G degrees were calculated. The adsorption process was found to be endothermic and spontaneous. The maximum adsorption of Cd(II) ions (99.7%) in the pH range 3-4 indicated that material could be effectively utilized for the removal of Cd(II) ions from wastewater. The desorption studies showed 82% recovery of Cd(II) when 0.1 M HCl solution was used as effluent. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.