Hydrophobic molecular sieve MCM-41 including surfactant template was synthesized by a simple method. The adsorption properties of this material toward phenanthrene were studied. The effects of adsorbent dose and pH value on the adsorption process as well as the adsorption mechanism and reuse performance were investigated. The template-containing MCM-41 showed a significant adsorption for phenanthrene, due to its hydrophobicity created by the surfactant template in MCM-41. The solution pH had little effect on the adsorption capacity. The adsorption kinetic could be fitted well with pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorption equilibrium was fitted well by the linear model, and the adsorption process followed the liquid/solid phase distribution mechanism. The thermodynamic results indicated that the adsorption was a spontaneous and exothermic process. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.