We proposed a robust method for surface-functionalizing magnetic polyvinyl alcohol microspheres to detect heavy metal ions in aqueous solutions. The prepared chemosensor (PAR-MPVA) was characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS). In neutral solutions, PAR-MPVA selectively recognized diatomic heavy metal ions, as indicated with a color change from earth yellow to red; in strong acidic solutions, the chemosensor only selectively detected Cu2+ PAR-MPVA microspheres had a detection limit as low as 0.5 mu M by naked-eye and 0.16 mu M by UV-vis spectrometer for Cu2+ Moreover, the sensor possessed magnetism for effective recovery, could easily be regenerated by a solution of EDTA, and also displayed perferable stability. The PAR-MPVA microspheres possessed preeminent properties of detecting copper (II) ions in aqueous solutions. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.