Cobalt ferrite-silica nanocomposites were synthesized in the presence of various amounts of Salix alba bark extract via the self-propagating sol-gel process. The structure, morphology and magnetic property of nanostructures was investigated and the adsorbent ability for the removal of malachite green (MG) dye from water through CoFe2O4-SiO2 has been reported. The products were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, FTIR and VSM techniques. The samples that were synthesized in the presence of more extract (20 mg extract) revealed no trace of impurity in XRD pattern and indicated more spherical and agglomerated particles on SEM images; in contrast other samples indicated Co3O4 as impurity besides rough and irregular spherical shapes. TEM images for sample SA20 (15.41 +/- 0.65 nm size) illustrated narrow size distribution which is consistent with the SEM analysis. The saturation magnetization values continuously increase with the increasing Salix alba bark extract amount and reaches to 2.89 emu/g for SA20 sample. Investigation on MG adsorption isotherm and kinetic onto the nanocomposites were carried out as well. The experimental data best fitted to the Langmuir model and revealed a monolayer adsorption capacity of 75.5 +/- 1.21 mg g(-1). The adsorption kinetic was found to follow pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Consequently, prepared nanocomposite can be used as an effective magnetic adsorbent for the MG removal from water. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.