In this research a novel nanocomposite adsorbent consisting of nanocrystalline zeolite A and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was prepared. Nanocrystalline zeolite A was synthesized by a new method using tetra methyl ammonium hydroxide and tetra methyl ammonium bromide as templating agents. The sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and differential thermogravimetric technique. The nanocomposite was evaluated for removal of Cs+ and Sr(2+)from aqueous solutions. The effect of different variables such as pH, initial concentration, contact time, and temperature was studied and optimized. The kinetic studies showed that the process was quite rapid and 90% of equilibrium capacity was achieved within 30 min. The process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model with k(2) values of 0.1912 and 0.1839 g mmol(-1) min(-1) for Cs+ and Sr2+ respectively. Positive Delta H degrees and negative Delta G degrees were indicative of the endothermic and spontaneous nature of Cs+ and Sr2+ removal. The Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkviech (D-R) isotherm models were also used to describe the equilibrium data. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.