Present study deals with the adsorption of Auramine-O (AO) dye by bagasse fly ash (BFA) and activated carbon-commercial grade (ACC) and laboratory grade (ACL). BFA is a solid waste obtained from the particulate collection equipment attached to the flue gas line of the bagasse fired boilers of cane sugar mills. Batch studies were performed to evaluate the influences of various experimental parameters like initial pH (pH(0)), contact time, adsorbent dose and initial concentration (CO) for the removal of AO. Optimum conditions for AO removal were found to be pHo approximate to 7.0 and equilibrium time approximate to 30 min for BFA and;: 120 min for activated carbons. Optimum BFA, ACC and ACL dosages were found to be 1, 20 and 2 g/l, respectively. Adsorption of AO followed pseudo-second order kinetics with the initial sorption rate for adsorption on BFA being the highest followed by those on ACL and ACC. The sorption process was found to be controlled by both film and pore diffusion with film diffusion at the earlier stages followed by pore diffusion at the later stages. Equilibrium isotherms for the adsorption of AO on BFA, ACC and ACL were analyzed by Freundlich, Langmuir, Dubinin-Radushkevich, and Temkin isotherm equations using linear correlation coefficient. Langmuir isotherm gave the best correlation of adsorption for all the adsorbents studied. Thermodynamic study showed that adsorption of AO on ACC (with a more negative Gibbs free energy value) is more favoured. BFA which was used without any pretreatment showed high surface area, pore volume and pore size exhibiting its potential to be used as an adsorbent for the removal of AO. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.