The Mg/Fe layered double hydroxide (LDH) with carbonate interaction and its calcined product (CLDH) were synthesized and used as adsorbents for the removal of acid brown 14 (AB 14) from aqueous solutions. Effect of various physic-chemical factors such as contact time, temperature, adsorbent dosage, initial AB 14 concentration and solution pH were investigated. The results showed that the synthesized CLDH was efficient and had a much higher adsorption capability of 370.0 mg/g for AB 14 compared with that of the LDH, 41.7 mg/g. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the CLDH before and after the adsorption demonstrated that the adsorption was significantly enhanced by reconstruction of its original layered structure in the presence of AB 14 with the memory effect. It was found that the adsorption isotherms were well described by Langmuir model for both the LDH and the CLDH with correlation coefficient (R-2) > 0.99, the adsorption kinetics of AB 14 on these two adsorbents followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The results indicated that the calcined Mg/Fe layered double hydroxide is an efficient adsorbent for the treatment of waste water with high concentration of anionic dyes. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.