This work considers the removal of the acid orange 10 (AO10) water contaminant on different calcined MgAl-layered double hydroxides (MgAl-LDHs). A precursor MgAl-LDH was submitted to hydrothermal treatment and grinding before calcination in order to obtain mixed oxides (MgAl500, MgAlHT500 and MgAlM500 respectively) with different surface characteristics. Adsorption experiments were carried Out using different parameters such as pH of the solutions, contact times, temperature and initial dye concentrations to determine optimal adsorption conditions. Adsorbents and adsorption products were characterized by several physicochemical techniques. The kinetic study indicated that the adsorption of AO10 on MgAlHT500 was almost instantaneous and the maximum adsorption was reached in 2 h, while it was more gradual for the other two adsorbents. In all cases, the adsorption was higher at a higher temperature (30 degrees C), being more favorable for MgAlHT500: for initial dye concentration of C-0 = 2.2 mM, the amounts of AO10 removed from the solution per gram of adsorbent were C-s = 1.47 mmol/g for MgAlHT500 vs. C-s = 0.9 mmol/g for MgAlM500 and C-s = 0.64 mmol/g for MgAl500. The DRX technique analysis suggests the intercalation of AO10 into the LDH due to an increasing in the basal spacing from 7.7 angstrom which corresponds to carbonate containing LDH, to 17.7 angstrom. This could be ascribed to AO10 anions vertically oriented respect to the layers for a high initial dye concentration. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.