The adsorption of furfural by a surfactant-containing nanoporous material is investigated in the present study. We used cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the cationic surfactant for synthesis of MCM-48. Batch adsorption studies demonstrate that the surfactant-containing MCM-48 has a significant capacity for adsorption of furfural from aqueous solution. The parameters investigated in this study included pH, contact time, agitation speed and initial furfural concentration. The adsorption process of furfural is tested with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Application of the Langmuir isotherm to the systems yielded maximum adsorption capacity of 196.1 mg/g. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.