Surface modified hydrous zirconium oxide (HZO) with beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) material (CY-HZO) was characterized as micro-structured (150 nm), predominantly amorphous with irregular and undulated surface morphology using analytical tools such as XRD, SEM, TEM, AFM,BET surface analysis etc. Too high surface site concentrations of CY-HZO (6300 nm(-2)) compared to pristine HZO (26 nm(-2)) is owing to the abundance of surface -OH groups afforded by beta-CD, which plays a decisive role in enhancing fluoride adsorption power of HZO. Fluoride adsorption over CY-HZO shows a discernible rise up to a pH similar to 5.0, and declines sharply at pH > 6.0. Kinetically pseudo second order type fluoride adsorption reactions with CY-HZO and HZ0 were isothermally Langmuir type but endothermic with CY-HZO and exothermic with HZO. But both were spontaneous (-Delta G(0) = 1.78, 2.06 & 5.18 for CY-HZO and 3.14, 3.0 & 2.66 for HZO at T= 303, 318 and 333 K). Langmuir capacity (q(m), mg g(-1)) of CY-HZO (31.45) is significantly higher than HZO (22.45) at 303 K. About 95% of the adsorbed fluoride could be released from CY-HZO surface by 3.0 M NaOH solution. Thus, CY-HZO should be a more potent material than HZO for fluoride removal from aqueous media. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.