A fundamental study about the application of biopolymers to the recovery of lead from dilute solution was carried out. A membranous composite biopolymer adsorbent containing two kind of biopolymers, alginic acid (AA) and humic acid (HA), was prepared. HA, which has high solubility in water, was almost completely immobilized in the adsorbent by a combination of calcium alginate gel and activated carbon powder. A general model for complexation between divalent metal ions and acidic sites on biopolymers was applied to explain the adsorption mechanism of lead on the adsorbent (HA-M). The results showed that the complexation constants and the complexation capacities of lead-AA and lead-HA systems were scarcely influenced by immobilization.