The use of low-cost and ecofriendly adsorbents has been investigated as an ideal alternative to the current expensive methods of removing dyes from wastewater. Orange peel was collected from the fields of orange trees in the north of Iran and converted into a low-cost adsorbent. This paper deals with the removal of textile dyes from aqueous solutions by orange peel. Direct Red 23 (DR23) and Direct Red 80 (DR80) were used as model compounds. The adsorption capacity Q(0) was 10.72 and 21.05 mg/g at initial pH 2. The effects of initial dye concentration (50, 75, 100, 125 mg/l), pH, mixing rate, contact time, and quantity of orange peel have been studied at 25 degrees C. The Langmuir and Freundlich models were used for this study. It was found that the experimental results show that the Langmuir equation fit better than the Freundlich equation. The results indicate that acidic pH supported the adsorption of both dyes on the adsorbent. Orange peel with concentrations of 8 and 4 g/l has shown adsorption efficiencies of about 92 and 91% for DR23 and DR80, respectively. Furthermore, adsorption kinetics of both dyes was studied and the rates of sorption were found to conform to pseudo-second-order kinetics with a good correlation (R >= 0.998). Maximum desorption of 97.7% for DR23 and 93% for DR80 were achieved in aqueous solution at pH 2. Finally, the effect of adsorbent surface was analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). SEM images showed reasonable agreement with adsorption measurements. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Inc.