Paper-based sensor is a new alternative technology to develop a portable, low-cost, and rapid analysis system in environmental chemistry. In this study, ion imprinted polymers (IIPs) using cadmium ions as the template were directly grafted on the surface of low-cost print paper based on the reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. It can be applied as a recognition element to selectively capture the target ions in the complex samples. The maximum adsorption capacity of IIPs composites was 155.2 mg g(-1) and the imprinted factor was more than 3.0. Then, IIPs-paper platform could be also applied as a detection element for highly selective and sensitive detection of Cd(II) ions without complex sample pretreatment and expensive instrument, due to the selective recognition, formation of dithizone-cadmium complexes and light transmission ability. Under the optimized condition, the linear range was changed from 1 to 100 ng mL(-1) and the limit of detection was 0.4 ng mL(-1). The results were in good agreement with the classic ICP-MS method. Furthermore, the proposed method can also be developed for detection of other heavy metals by designing of new IIPs. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.