Synthesis of cellulose based silica (CLx/SiO2) nanocomposite was successfully carried out and employed for the removal of Eu(III), La(III) and Sc(III). Nanocomposite was characterized by TEM, AFM, SEM, XRD, FTIR and BET. TEM analysis indicated that the particle diameter of nanocomposite was in the range of 915 nm and silica particles was uniformly distributed throughout the nanocomposites. The presence of mixed phases of cellulose and SiO2 was observed by FTIR and XRD. Experimental results showed that CLx/SiO2 nanocomposite produced by sulfuric acid modification possess higher surface area than that of citric acid modified. Various parameters including contact time, pH, nanocomposite dosage, initial concentration, and temperature were optimized to achieve maximum adsorption capacity. The kinetics results revealed that the surface chemical sorption for Eu(III) and La(III) and physisorption for Sc(III). Also, the film diffusion was the rate-determining step of the adsorption process. Importantly, the isotherms fitted better to Langmuir for Eu(III) and La(III) than Freundlich. The positive values of AH indicates that the adsorption process was endothermic and negative value of Delta G degrees indicates the feasibility of Eu(III), La(III) and Sc(III) removal by adsorption on CLN/SiO2 nanocomposite and suggests the spontaneous nature of adsorption on nanocomposite. Desorption of adsorbate loaded on nanocomposite during adsorption process was easily carried out up to three cycles. The results indicate that the nanocomposite is an efficient adsorbent with good adsorption capacity for Eu(III), La(III) and Sc(III). (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.