The bamboo-based and bead-shaped activated carbon (BAC) were used to examine the effects of textural properties and surface chemistry, respectively, on As(V) adsorption. The relationships between solution pH, coexistent ions and/or arsenic species and As(V) adsorption by BAC were also investigated. The Langmuir and pseudo-second order kinetics models were employed to evaluate the prepared activated carbon for As(V) adsorption. The results showed that As(V) adsorption was strongly attributed to surface properties, that is, basic sites rather than textural properties. The fittings of adsorption data to the kinetics models revealed that As(V) adsorption would be governed by diffusion process rather than collision process. Among various acidity regulators (HCl, HNO3, and H2SO4), the pH adjustment by HCl induced the highest adsorption amount at pH 5.5, indicating that the inhibition effect of Cl- ion for As(V) adsorption was much less than NO3- and SO42- ions. The effective arsenic species for As(V), adsoprtion was H2AsO4, and the decrease in the adsorption amount in acidic condition would be due to the inhibition by excess of Cl- ion, while the decrease in the adsorption at pH more than 5.5 would be attributed to the increase in OH- ion or to the influence of increased hydrogen arsenate species(HAsO42-).