A novel biosorbent rice polish has been successfully utilized for the removal of cadmium(II) from wastewater. The maximum removal of cadmium(II) was found to be 9.72 mg g(-1) at pH 8.6, initial Cd(II) concentration of 125 mg l(-1) and temperature of 20° C. The effect of different parameters such as contact time, adsorbate concentration, pH of the medium and temperature were investigated. Dynamics of the sorption process were studied and the values of rate constant of adsorption, rate constant of intraparticle diffusion and mass transfer coefficient were calculated. Different thermodynamic parameters, viz., changes in standard free energy, enthalpy and entropy have also been evaluated and it has been found that the reaction was spontaneous and exothermic in nature. The applicability of Langmuir isotherm showed monolayer coverage of the adsorbate on the surface of adsorbents. A generalised empirical model was proposed for the kinetics at different initial concentrations. The data were subjected to multiple regression analysis and a model was developed to predict the removal of Cd(II) from wastewater. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.