To investigate the influence of immobilized graphene oxide (GO) on host structures, it was incorporated into calcium alginate and macroporous alginic beads, and acridine orange (AO) was used as a typical dye pollutant to eliminate. Characterizations demonstrated GO was well encapsulated and had promoted both beads more porous yet to a varying extent. Kinetics studies exhibited the addition of GO resulted in adsorptions with shorter equilibrium time and faster initial adsorption rate, and the adsorbents with higher equilibrium capacities. Isotherm studies indicated the hybrid absorbents following Langmuir-type adsorptive behavior had higher maximum adsorption capacities than those without GO. In addition, GO would contribute dominantly to the removal of AO under highly acidic condition whereas alginate/alginic part became failure. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.