Aiming to investigate the adsorption removal performance of NiCo2O4 as water purification adsorbents, magnetic materials NiCo(2)0(4) with six different morphologies were successfully synthesized by a facile method. NiCo2O4 with six different morphologies were characterized by scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, N-2 adsorption-desorption, vibrating sample magnetometry and X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry. In this study, we mainly explored the effect of specific surface area, pore volume and pore size on the performance for the removal of methyl orange, and the adsorption capacity followed an order of (b) NiCo(2)0(4) nanorods > (e) balsam-like NiCo(2)0(4) (f) rose-like NiCo(2)0(4) > (d) NiCo(2)0(4) nanoribbons > (a) NiCo(2)0(4) flowerlike nanostructures > (c) dandelion-like NiCo2O4 spheres. The results indicated that NiCo(2)0(4) nanorods exhibited better adsorption performance. The reasons for the excellent adsorption capacity of NiCo(2)0(4) nanorods were also discussed in depth by analyzing scale and surface characteristics. Besides, NiCo(2)0(4) could be easily recovered from solution, which may avoid potential secondary pollution. Moreover, adsorption kinetics, the influence of pH and adsorption mechanism were comprehensively investigated. This finding indicated that NiCo(2)0(4) were promising adsorbents for water purification. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.