Activated carbons prepared from tamarind nutshell, an agricultural waste by-product, have been examined for the removal of phenol from aqueous solutions. The activated carbon was prepared by sulfuric acid activation. Both batch and column studies were performed for the sorption of phenol. The kinetic data were fitted to the models of Lagergren, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion, and closely followed the pseudo-second-order chernisorption model. The Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models were well fitted. The solution pH greatly affects the sorption process. The column study results indicate that the sorption of phenol is dependent on the flow rate, the inlet phenol concentration as well as on the particle size of the adsorbent.