We report a graphite oxide-mediated approach for synthesizing porous CeO2 through a facile hydrothermal process followed by thermal annealing in air. The phase structure, morphology, microstructure and porosity of the products have been revealed by a combination of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and N-2 adsorption. The as-prepared CeO2 products show well-defined quadrangular prism morphology, and they are composed of interconnected nanoparticles with diameters around 30-100 nm. In particular, the dual-pore hierarchical systems are created in the CeO2 quadrangular prisms with the pore distributions around 4 nm and 30 nm. The dye sorption capacity of the porous CeO2 is investigated, which exhibits a rapid adsorption to rhodamine B with a high removal efficiency of similar to 99%. Moreover, the CeO2 absorbent retains the same performances in different pH solutions. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.