Modified waste lignocellulosic material, namely white-rot fungi treated Fructus forsythiae shell residue (WTFFSR), was explored as a promising low-cost biosorbent, and its potential application in the enrichment of two bioactive phenolic compounds (forsythiaside and phillygenin) from Fructus forsythiae shell extracts was investigated. The present study confirmed that WTFFSR was comparable to the commercial adsorbent D101 in terms of adsorption/desorption performances of forsythiaside and phillygenin. Additionally, the adsorption process followed the pseudo-second order kinetic model, and the equilibrium experimental data were well described by the Freundlich isotherm, although they could be modeled by the Langmuir isotherm as well. Moreover, the thermodynamic analysis indicated that the adsorption was a physical, spontaneous and exothermic process. Furthermore, the dynamic adsorption and desorption tests were performed on WTFFSR-packed columns to obtain the optimal operating parameters. Under the optimized conditions, the contents of forsythiaside and phillygenin in the initial crude extracts increased from 4.12% and 1.06% to 23.91% and 7.44% in the final products with the recovery yields of 67.41% and 81.52%, respectively. Therefore, the result demonstrated that WTFFSR could be used as an alternative biosorbent to enrich forsythiaside and phillygenin from Fructus forsythiae shell extracts for their application in both healthcare food and pharmaceuticals. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.