Graphene oxide (GO) was encapsulated into environmentally benign sodium alginate (SA) to prepare a GO-SA composite hydrogel and an aerogel, which were then used as adsorbents to remove ciprofloxacin from aqueous solutions. The characteristics of these materials were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The characterizations demonstrated that the incorporation of GO improved the pore uniformity of the gels and decreased the pore sizes. Kinetic studies showed that the adsorption capacity of SA composite gels increased approximately seven to nine times after the incorporation of GO, matching with pseudo-second-order models. Non-linear fitting parameters of adsorption isotherm studies indicated that a Langmuir model could precisely represent the adsorption behavior. GO-SA aerogels exhibited high tolerance to changes in pH and ionic strength; changes in these parameters minimally influenced the adsorption capacity of the GO-SA aerogels for ciprofloxacin. This work is especially relevant for environmental applications. These graphene-based composites are environmentally benign adsorbents and can remove organic contaminants from aqueous solutions. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.