Kinetic adsorption of phenol and aniline from aqueous solution onto activated carbon and hypercrosslinked polymeric resin MN200 were evaluated in single and binary system. Larger phenol and aniline uptakes were observed for activated carbon in single as well as binary system, which can be attributed to the better physical properties of activated carbon, for instance larger surface area and micropore area. The kinetic experimental data was properly fitted by the pseudo-first and pseudo-second-order rate equations. A synergetic effect between solutes was observed since phenol and aniline sorption kinetic in binary system was faster than the individual sorption of each solute in single system, as well as a slight increase in the kinetic parameters obtained in binary system. The particle diffusion rate was defined as the rate limiting mechanism in the singles and binary system for phenol and aniline kinetic adsorption on both adsorbents. Two steps were markedly defined by the Weber and Morris intraparticle diffusion analysis for phenol and aniline onto both adsorbents. In binary systems, the intraparticle diffusion was influenced by the physical properties of adsorbents. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.