The use of activated carbon obtained from sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) stones for the removal of a basic textile dye, which is Yellow 18, from aqueous solutions at different contact times, pH values and solution temperatures was investigated. The surface area and micropore volume of chemically modified activated carbon were 1704 m(2) g (1) and 0.984 cm(3) g (1), respectively. The experimental data indicated that the adsorption isotherms were well described by the Langmuir equilibrium isotherm equation and the calculated adsorption capacity was 75.76 mg g (1) at 318 K. The adsorption kinetic of Yellow 18 obeys the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The thermodynamic parameters were calculated to estimate the nature of adsorption. The activation energy of the system was calculated as 0.71-2.36 kJ/mol. According to these results, prepared activated carbon could be used as a low-cost adsorbent to compare with the commercial activated carbon for the removal of Yellow 18 from wastewater. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.