Coking coal has been employed for coking wastewater adsorption treatment. The modification and adsorption of coking coal pretreated by alkali solution is discussed and compared in this study. Results demonstrated OH- could react with -COOH, -OH and minerals, which resulted in coal surface variations. As the hydroxide concentration is increased, surface hydrophobility increased and the zeta potential became less negative. A coal sample pretreated by 0.1 mol/L NaOH solution had the highest surface area and pore volume. The adsorption ability of the samples was improved significantly as surface changes. The coal sample pretreated by 0.1 mol/L NaOH solution had the highest adsorption capacity, and followed pseudo-second-order kinetics.