Phenolic compounds are one of the most representative pollutants in industrial wastewater, and efficient removal and destruction of them have attracted significant concerns. In the present study, a carbonylated hypercrosslinked polymeric adsorbent HJ-1 was developed and its ability to remove phenol and p-cresol in aqueous solution was tested in comparison with the commercial Amberlite XAD-4 resin. The HJ-1 resin exhibited excellent applicability in the acidic and neutral pH, NaCl posed the positive effect, whereas Cd2+ had the negative effect on the adsorption. The adsorption dynamics obeyed the pseudo-second-order rate equation and the adsorption rate constant of phenol was a little greater than that of p-cresol. The adsorption isotherms can be correlated to Langmuir isotherm and the adsorption capacity of phenol and p-cresol onto HJ-1 resin was much larger than that onto XAD-4. With regard to the two adsorbates, the adsorption capacity of p-cresol was larger than that of phenol at the same temperature and equilibrium concentration. The adsorption thermodynamic parameters were calculated and the adsorption was principally driven by adsorption enthalpy and entropy. Analysis of the different adsorbability of p-cresol from phenol suggested that the solubility and polarity of the adsorbate played important roles. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.