The sorption of basic red dye 46 onto the mixture of clay and wood-sawdust has been studied in a batch system. The influence of initial dye concentration, pH and temperature have been reported. A comparison of kinetic models applied to the adsorption of basic red (BR46) on the mixture was evaluated for the pseudo-second order and Elovich kinetic models. Results show that the pseudo-second order kinetic model was found to agree well with the experimental data. In addition, an activation energy of sorption has also been determined based on the pseudo-second order rate constants. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were used to fit the experimental data.