Fly ash as an industrial solid waste can pose great risks to the environment. In the present study, super hydrophobic cotton textile for oil/water separation was developed based on the formation of fly ash coating and subsequent hydrophobization. The hierarchical fly ash coating immobilized exhibited superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 152 degrees. The as-prepared textile can effectively separate a series of oil/water mixtures with high separation efficiency up to 97.3%. Furthermore, the obtained textile can be used under acidic, alkaline, salty, and ultraviolet irradiation conditions. After sixteen cycles of oil/water separation, the textiles still maintained stable superhydrophobicity and high separation efficiency. Owning to good environmental friendliness, low cost, high separation efficiency, and excellent durability and recyclability, the as-prepared textile may be a promising candidate for the separation of oil/water mixtures. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.