The mechanism of chemisorption of aqueous metal ions at surfaces has long been a topical issue in such fields as soil chemistry and bioenvironmental science. Here it is quantitatively demonstrated for the first time that release of water from the inner hydration shell is the rate-limiting step in inner-sphere surface complexation. The reactive intermediate is an outer-sphere complex between metal ion and surface site, with an electrostatically controlled stability defined by Boltzmann statistics. Using tabulated dehydration rate constants for metal ions, the resulting scheme allows for prediction of rates of sorption of aqueous metal ions at any type of complexing surface.