BACKGROUND: Selective absorption of oils by macroporous solid absorbents has been regarded as an easy, environment-friendly and economical way to gather oils for oil-water separation, oil contamination cleanup and easy transport/storage. Cheap absorbent material with high oil-absorption performance is a key factor to promote its large-scale application. RESULTS: Highly oil-absorptive and water-repellent carbonized asphalt-melamine sponges (AMS) have been prepared via a dip-coated sponge carbonization process, using deoiled asphalt (DOA) as dip-coating reagent and melamine sponge (MS) as template. By the combination of DOA-derived surface modification and mild carbonization at 600 degrees C, the AMS products obtained such key properties as low density, highly selective absorption of oils against water, flexibility, good fire-resistance and thermal stability, and good recyclability. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that AMS can be a promising oil-absorbent material applicable to oil pollution control on a water surface. Benefiting from both cheap raw materials and facile economical manufacturing process, the approach proposed can contribute to the mass manufacturing of cheap oil-absorbent products with high oil-absorption performance. (C) 2016 Society of Chemical Industry