In this work, microbial flocculant GA1 (MBFGA1) was used to remove Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution. A series of experimental parameters including initial pH, MBFGA1 dose, temperature and initial calcium ions concentration on Pb(II) uptake was evaluated. Meanwhile, the flocculation mechanism of MBFGA1 was investigated. The removal efficiency of Pb(II) reached up to 99.85% when MBFGA1 was added in two stages, separately. The results indicated that Pb(II) adsorption could be described by the Langmuir adsorption model, and being the monolayer capacity negatively affected with an increase in temperature. The adsorption process could be described by pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Fourier transform-infrared spectra and environmental scanning electron microscope analysis indicated that MBFGA1 had a large number of functional groups, which had strong capacity for removing Pb(II). The main mechanisms of Pb(II) removal by MBFGA1 could be charge neutralization and adsorption bridging. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.