A new porous fabric adsorbent (PM/PP nonwoven) was prepared by hydrogen bonding self-assembly method, in which poly(divinylbenzene-co-4-vinylpyridine) microspheres were introduced onto the surface of PP-g-AA (polypropylene grafted acrylic acid) nonwoven. The effects of the main conditions for self-assembly reaction such as mass ratio of microsphere to nonwoven, pH and the grafting degree of acrylic acid were studied. In addition, the adsorption mechanisms and interactions for three VOCs (styrene, cyclohexane, acetone) were systematically elucidated. The resulting 28.2% PM/PP nonwoven obtained a higher adsorption amount (52.8 mg/g) of styrene vapor, which was 88 times greater than that of original PP nonwoven. Meanwhile, the kinetic studies suggested that the Yoon and Nelson model is suitable to describe the adsorption mechanism of styrene over the modified nonwovens. Adsorption and pressure drop data showed that PM/PP nonwoven had good adsorption ability and air permeability due to its abundant functional groups and porous structures. Taken together, it is expected that PM/PP nonwoven would be a promising adsorbent for removal of VOCs from the gas streams. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.