Microwave-assisted inverse emulsion polymerization method was used to prepare Cd(II) imprinted polymer (IIP) by using beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) and acrylamide (AM) as functional monomer, epichiorohydrin (ECH) as crossing-linking agent, ammonium persulfate as initiator. The Cd(II) imprinted polymer was characterized by SEM, FTIR and TGA. The influences of initial concentration of Cd(II), pH values, temperature, time and competitive ions on adsorption capacity and recognition properties are investigated. Under the optimal conditions, the adsorption capacity could reach 107 mg/g. Furthermore, pseudo first order kinetic model, pseudo second order kinetic model and intra-particular diffusion model were used to describe the adsorption kinetic behavior. Results showed that the pseudo-second-order model (R-2 0.9928-0.9961) had the best agreement with the experimental data. Langmuir adsorption isotherm model described the experimental data well, which indicated that adsorption was mainly monolayer absorption. Moreover, the study of adsorption thermodynamics (Delta G(0) < 0, Delta H-0 > 0, Delta S-0 > 0) suggested that the adsorption process was a spontaneous and endothermic process. Competitive selectivity experiment revealed that imprinted polymer could selectively recognize Cd(II). It provides a new idea for removing Cd(II) from aqueous solution. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.