A novel adsorbent, iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles and Ca-alginate immobilized Phanerochaete chrysosporium, was prepared for removal of Pb(II) ions. Confirmation of the experimental data indicated the pseudo-second-order reaction of the prepared adsorbents. Langmuir isotherm was found to be applicable in terms of relatively high correlation coefficients, which indicated that the adsorption between Pb(II) and the adsorbent was favorable. The thermodynamic analysis showed that the adsorption of Pb(II) was spontaneous and endothermic under the experimental conditions. The adsorption-desorption studies indicated that the prepared adsorbent kept its adsorption efficiencies constant over 5 cycles, maintained about 90%. All the results illustrated that MNPs-Ca-alginate immobilized P. Chrysosporium was a very attractive adsorbent for efficient Pb(II) removal from contaminated aqueous solution. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V.