Batch sorption experiments were carried out to remove dyes, methyl orange (MO), orange G (OG) and brilliant red X-3B (X-3B), from their aqueous solutions using a mesoporous silica SBA-3 as an adsorbent. The effect of surfactant template in SBA-3 on the removal of OG, MO and X-3B was investigated. Experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of contact time, initial concentration, pH, and adsorbent dosage on the adsorption performance. The adsorption results of anionic dyes on the uncalcined SBA-3 (noted as SBA-3) were compared with those of the calcined SBA-3 (noted as C-SBA-3). The uncalcined SBA-3 adsorbent has a large adsorption capacity and a strong affinity for the anionic dyes. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms were employed to model the experimental results, from which the Freundlich isotherm exhibited the most appropriate to predict the same. Freundlich isotherm exhibited the most appropriate to predict the experimental results. The kinetic data were also analyzed through pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model well depicted the kinetics of dyes adsorption on mesoporous SBA-3. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.