Recently, a renewed interest in hydrogels for heavy metal removal of wastewater has been growing because of embarking opportunities in industrial applications. One of the most interesting hydrogels potentially used as absorbent is poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), owing to its biocompatibility. In this study, the adsorption capacity of copper(II) ion onto PVA hydrogel (PVAH) adsorbents with different crosslinking degrees of 1, 3 and 5 % from aqueous solution was investigated. The PVAH adsorbents were prepared from PVA, using glutaraldehyde as a crosslinking agent. Their properties were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and water absorption measurement. The results showed that PVA was crosslinked with glutaraldehyde. It exhibited an equilibrium swelling ratio in the range of 195-250 %, depending on the crosslinking degree with different PVAH structures defined from SEM micrographs. The adsorption capacity of copper(II) ion onto PVAH adsorbents was investigated and found that higher crosslinking degree decreased the absorption capacity. This behavior is due to the decrease in reactive sites, resulting in the decrease of interaction between copper(II) ion and PVA. Besides, the adsorption capacity also depended on contact time, pH and temperature. The adsorption process followed pseudo-second-order kinetic, having a 0.99 correlation coefficient. Intraparticle diffusion was confirmed by the adsorption mechanism controlled by particle and film diffusions.