The purpose of this research work is to investigate sorption characteristic of Polyaniline/Hexagonal Mesoporous Silica (PANI/HMS) nanocomposite powder for the removal of Ni(II) ions from aqueous solutions. The adsorbent is characterized using FE-SEM, TEM, FTIR, XRD and BET surface area. The sorption of Ni(II) ions by batch method is carried out and the optimum conditions are investigated. Three models, i.e., Morris-Weber, Lagergren and Pseudo second order have been tested to track the kinetics of removal process. The Langmuir, Freundlich and D-R are subjected to sorption data to estimate sorption capacity, intensity and energy. The thermodynamic parameters (Delta H, Delta S and Delta G) are evaluated, as well. These parameters showed that the adsorption of Ni(II) onto PANI/HMS is feasible, spontaneous and endothermic under studied conditions. It is found that temperature has a positive effect on the removal efficiency. It can be concluded that PANI/HMS is potentially able to remove Ni(II) ions from aqueous solutions. Also it is achieved more than 86% desorption efficiency using 0.1 M H2SO4 and reusing of adsorbent shows high ability in the Ni(II) removal from aqueous media. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.