An activated carbon has been prepared from gingelly oil cake (GOC) by zinc chloride treatment and its Cr(VI) removal capacity is compared with that of commercial activated carbon (CAC). The effect of experimental parameters such as pH, initial concentration, contact time and adsorbents dose for Cr(VI) removal has been studied. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin models are tested to describe the equilibrium isotherms. The maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbents calculated from Langmuir isotherm is found to be 62.5 mg/g and 25.13 mg/g for zinc chloride treated gingelly oil cake carbon (ZTGOC) and CAC respectively. R(2) values show that both Langmuir and Freundlich models fit well to explain the adsorption phenomenon for ZTGOC and CAC. The kinetic data fits best to pseudo-second order model. FT-IR analysis has been used to obtain information on the nature of possible interaction between carbon adsorbents and metal ions. SEM images confirm the adsorption of Cr(VI) onto these adsorbents through morphological observations. Thermodynamic study shows the feasibility of process and spontaneous nature of the adsorption. The carbon adsorbents have also been tested for the removal of Cr(VI) from chrome plating wastewater and are found to remove Cr(VI) effectively.