An industrial waste sludge mainly composed by metal hydroxides was used as a low-cost adsorbent for removing a reactive textile dye (Remazol Brilliant Blue) in solution. Characterization of this waste material included chemical composition, pH(ZPC) determination, particle size distribution, physical textural properties and metals mobility under different pH conditions. Dye adsorption equilibrium isotherms were determined at 25 and 35 degrees C and pH of 4, 7 and 10 revealing reasonably fits to Langmuir and Freundlich models. At 25 degrees C and pH 7, Langmuir fit indicates a maximum adsorption capacity of 91.0 mg/g. An adsorptive ion-exchange mechanism was identified from desorption studies. Batch kinetic experiments were also conducted at different initial dye concentration, temperature, adsorbent dosage and pH. A pseudo-second-order model showed good agreement with experimental data. LDF approximation model was used to estimate homogeneous solid diffusion coefficients and the effective pore diffusivities. Additionally, a simulated real effluent containing the selected dye, salts and dyeing auxiliary chemicals, was also used in equilibrium and kinetic experiments and the adsorption performance was compared with aqueous dye solutions. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.