Graft through strategy was utilized to coat magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles with poly(glycidyl methacrylate) using ordinary radical polymerization and then p-cyclodextrin was linked onto the surface of nanoparticles. With these nanoparticles modified with cyclodextrin groups, adsorption of two model environmental pollutants, bisphenol A and copper ions, was studied. Host-guest interactions between cyclodextrin and aromatic molecules had a great contribution to the adsorption of bisphenol A, while multiple hydroxyls of cyclodextrin also helped the adsorption of copper ions. These magnetic nanopartides could be applied in the elimination, enrichment and detection of some environmental pollutants. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.