Adsorption of quinoline onto granular activated carbon (GAC) and bagasse fly ash (BFA) were studied in a batch system. Various parameters such as pH, adsorbent dose (m), temperature (T), initial quinoline concentration (C-o) and contact time (t) were optimised. Equilibrium contact time and optimum pH were found to be 8 h and 5.5, respectively, for both the adsorbents. The adsorbent dose for GAC and BFA were found to be of 5 g/l and 10 g/l, respectively. Pseudo-second-order kinetic model was found to fit the adsorption kinetic data. Redlich and Peterson (R-P) isotherm generally fitted the experimental data for quinoline adsorption onto GAC and BFA. The adsorption of quinoline onto GAC and BFA was found to be endothermic. Changes in entropy and heat of adsorption for adsorption of quinoline on GAC were determined as 112.96 kJ/mol K and 12.64 kJ/mol. respectively, whereas for BFA was determined as 77.78 kJ/mol K and 6.86 kJ/mol, respectively. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.