A method is described for enhancement and improvement of the adsorptive efficiency of active carbon (AC) sorbent for cadmium ion by affordable chemical treatment with acid, base, oxidizing and reducing agents followed by biological surface immobilization of baker's yeast. Chemically and biologically treated AC sorbents were investigated by using Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The sorption properties of modified AC sorbents for Cd(II) were also studied, evaluated and optimized in presence of various experimental controlling factors. The results of this study referred to the superior cadmium uptake by chemically and/or biologically treated AC sorbents compared to untreated AC. The highest determined cadmium sorption capacity value (265 mu mol g(-1)) was characterized by reduced active carbon-immobilized-baker's yeast. The potential applications of chemically and biologically treated carbonaceous sorbents for removal and extraction of cadmium from real water matrices were also studied by using a multi-stage micro-column technique. The results of this study were found to refer to superior recovery values of cadmium (90.0-98.0 +/- 3.0-5.0%) without the interference of matrix types. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.