The method of permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) is considered as one of the most practicable approaches in treating heavy metals contaminated surface and groundwater. The mixture of acid-washed zero-valent iron (ZVI) and zero-valent aluminum (ZVAl) as reactive medium in PRBs to treat heavy metal wastewater containing Cr(VI), Cd2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+ was investigated. The performance of column filled with the mixture of acid-washed ZVI and ZVAl was much better than the column filled with ZVI or ZVAl alone. At initial pH 5.4 and flow rates of 1.0 mL/min, the time that the removal efficiencies of Cr(VI), Cd2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+ were all above 99.5% can keep about 300 h using 80g/40 g acid-washed ZVI/ZVAl when treating wastewater containing each heavy metal ions (Cr(VI), Cd2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+) concentration of 20.0 mg/L. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize ZVI/ZVAl before and after reaction and the reaction mechanism of the heavy metal ions with ZVI/ZVAl was discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.