Development of low cost adsorbent for pesticide retention is an important area of research in environmental sciences. The present study reports the sorption potential of coal fly ash, a waste from power stations, for removal of metribuzin, metolachlor and atrazine from water. Batch sorption method was used to study the sorption of herbicides from water. The amount of herbicides sorbed increased with increase in the amount of fly ash in the suspension. The maximum capacity of the fly ash to adsorb metribuzin, metolachlor and atrazine was found to be 0.20, 0.28 and 0.38 mg/g by Freundlich equation and 0.56, 1.0 and 3.33 mg/g by Langmuir equation. Freundlich adsorption equation better explained the results of herbicides sorption in fly ash as regression coefficient (R-2) values were higher from Freundlich equation than the Langmuir equation. Adsorption isotherms were L-type suggesting that the herbicide sorption efficiency of fly ash depend on the initial concentration of herbicide in the solution and maximum removal of herbicide was observed at concentrations less than 10 mu g/ml. The results of this study have implications in using the fly ash for removal of these herbicides from industrial and agricultural waste water and can find use as a material in the preparation of biobeds to minimize environmental contamination from pesticide use. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.