Due to the high cost of adsorbents and their thermal regeneration in recent years, much research has focused on the search for cheaper adsorbents for treating wastewater from textile industry. The single component adsorption of an acidic dye, Acid Yellow 117, and a basic dye, Methylene Blue, onto several adsorbents bamboo, waste wood, bamboo char, waste wood char, bamboo activated carbon, wood activated carbon and active carbon F400 were conducted. Based on a Langmuir analysis, the monolayer adsorption capacities were determined. Three of the adsorbents were selected for binary layer adsorption to check the multilayer concept and the potential application for better adsorbent usage. The two cheapest adsorbents, bamboo and wood are compared with the commercial activated carbon F400, and all three systems were successful.