Present study deals with the adsorption of Pb(II) from aqueous solution on rice husk ash. Rice husk is a by-product generally obtained from rice mill. Rice husk ash is a solid obtained after burning of rice husk. Batch studies were performed to evaluate the influences of various experimental parameters like pH, initial concentration, adsorbent dosage, contact time and the effect of temperature. Optimum conditions for Pb(II) removal were found to be pH 5, adsorbent dosage 5 g/L of solution and equilibrium time 1 h. Adsorption of Pb(II) followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. The effective diffusion coefficient is of the order of 10(-10) m(2)/s. The equilibrium adsorption isotherm was better described by Freuindlich adsorption isotherm model. The adsorption capacity (q(max)) of rice husk ash for Pb(II) ions in terms of monolayer adsorption was 91.74 mg/g. The change of entropy (Delta S-0) and enthalpy (Delta H-0) were estimated at 0.132 kJ/(mol K) and 28.923 kJ/mol respectively. The negative value of Gibbs free energy (Delta G(0)) indicates feasible and spontaneous adsorption of Pb(II) on rice husk ash. The value of the adsorption energy (E), calculated using Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm, was 9.901 kJ/mol and it indicated that the adsorption process was chemical in nature. Application study was also carried out to find the suitability of the process in waste water treatment operation. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.