A novel adsorbent was prepared by immobilizing barberry tannin (BT) onto collagen fiber, which was found effective to remove Hg(II) from aqueous solution. The bayberry tannin-immobilized collagen fiber (BTICF) shows high adsorption capacity to Hg(II) in a wide pH range of 4.0-9.0, and a maximum adsorption capacity (198.49 mg/g) was reached at pH 7.0 and 303 K when the initial concentration of Hg(II) was 200.0 mg/L The adsorption isothermal and kinetic data were well fitted by the Langmuir equation and the pseudo-first-order rate equation, respectively. The adsorption mechanism of BTICF to Hg(II) was proved to follow a chelating reaction. The BTICF can be easily regenerated with 0.1 M lactic acid after adsorption process and recycled at least 4 times without the loss of adsorption capacity. These facts indicate that BTICF can be used as a low-cost adsorbent for effective removal of Hg(II) from aqueous solutions. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.