A novel water-compatible microporous and mesoporous hyper-cross-linked resin modified with phenolic hydroxyl group (named as GQ-03) was synthesized to remove aniline in aqueous solution as compared with XAD-4. The maximum adsorption capacity of GQ-03 emerged at the molecular state for both aniline and p-cresol while the pH dependency trend of aniline adsorbed onto XAD-4 was accordant with the dissociation curve of aniline. The ionic strength influenced the adsorption obviously. The pseudo-first-order rate equation could describe the adsorption process of aniline onto GQ-03 in two stages while this equation could characterize the entire adsorption process of XAD-4. The adsorption isotherms could be correlated to the Freundlich model, higher K-F and n values for GQ-03 than XAD-4. The breakthrough capacity and the total adsorption capacity of GQ-03 and XAD-4 was up to 47.2 mg mL(-1) and 28.3 mg mL(-1), 271.7 mg mL(-1) and 115.6 mg mL(-1), respectively. The size matching between the pore diameter of GQ-03 and the molecular size of aniline, and hydrogen bonding between GQ-03 and aniline resulted in the larger adsorption capacity. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.