The competitive adsorption of copper and nickel ions on macroporous chitosan membrane was investigated for the first time in this research. At first macroporous chitosan membrane was prepared by particulate leaching out method. Membrane surface chemical characterization was analyzed by ATR and EDX. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out with mono and binary component solutions on chitosan membrane. In mono-component adsorption, the copper ions adsorption was 19.87 mg/g which was higher than those of the nickel (i.e. 5.21 mg/g), while the initial concentrations in both cases were the same. Comparing bi-component with mono-component adsorption, the competitive adsorption caused a reduction in the adsorption of individual ions. To obtain the mono and bi-component adsorption equilibrium models' parameter, several optimization methods were used and their results were compared. Mono and binary component adsorption models were fitted the experimental data well; also adsorption kinetic studies were performed for macroporous chitosan membrane. Desorption experiments were studied using EDTA as eluant. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.