With bulk production and increasing application of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as adsorbents in wastewater treatment, they will eventually be discharged into water environment and result in human contact risk to these toxic materials. However, so far few attentions have been paid to resolve the environmental micro-pollution caused by these micro-sized CNTs. In this research, an environmental friendly adsorbent, CNTs immobilized by calcium alginate (CNTs/CA) was prepared. Its copper adsorption properties were investigated via equilibrium studies. Experimental results showed that copper removal efficiency of CNTs/CA is high and reaches 69.9% even at a lower pH of 2.1. The copper adsorption capacity of CNTs/CA can attain 67.9 mg/g at copper equilibrium concentration of 5 mg/L. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.