A selective adsorbent based on the modification of mesoprous SBA-15 with N,N'-bis(salicylidene)-1,3-e thylenediamine Schiff base and decorated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles (SBA-15-BSEA-Fe3O4-NPs) for Ce (III) ions removal was reported. The SBA-15-BSEA-Fe3O4-NPs was identified by XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, SEM, FT-IR, VSM, BET and BJH analysis. Central composite design (CCD) was applied to evaluate the main and interactive effects of adsorption variables and optimize the operational parameters. The important variable such as initial pH solution, SBA-15-BSEA-Fe3O4-NPs mass, shaking time and initial concentration of Ce3+ ions were studied under batch mode. In desirability concession of 1.0 as optimum value for R% ce (III), the level of factors was as follows: shaking time 80 min, SBA-15-BSEA-Fe3O4-NPs mass 0.05 g, pH 5 and initial concentration of Ce(III) ions 40 mg L-1. The SBA-15-BSEA-Fe3O4-NPs exhibited high adsorption efficiency and very good selectivity through cerium removal even in the presence of other ions (La3+,Nb3+, Er3+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Cr3+, and Fe2+ ions). The SBA-15-BSEA-Fe3O4-NPs was successfully regenerated and the response was reversible. The R.S.D. of the adsorption process was less. than 1.02%. (c) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.