In present research, a simplistic hydrothermal method was adopted for one-step synthesis of nanozeolite beta (NZB) having an average particle size of 18 nm with Si/Al ratio 46.67, surface area 328 m(2)/g, pore volume 0.287 cm(3)/g, and pore diameter 3.5 nm. The surface of the synthesized NZB was modified with 0.5 wt% hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTMA-Br) and used as an adsorbent for the removal of two phytoestrogens daidzein and coumestrol from aqueous solutions. The surface properties and surface charge of NZB considerably changed after modification with HDTMA-Br, which resulted in enhanced removal of daidzein (92-98% from 7 to 27%) and coumestrol (93.5-99% from 5 to 9.2%). The surface modified zeolite beta (SMZB) has similar physical characteristics as of NZB with an average particle size of 20 nm, surface area 299.8 m(2)/g, pore volume 0.263 cm(3)/g, and pore diameter 3.51 nm. The influence of various parameters was examined by conducting a sequence of batch experiments. The adsorption equilibrium was achieved in less than 3 h with saturation capacity of 40.74 mg/g and 42.87 mg/g for daidzein and coumestrol, respectively. The Freundlich isotherm and fractional order kinetic models represented the adsorption data very closely. The thermodynamic parameters indicated that sorption of both phytoestrogens onto SMZB is spontaneous and exothermic. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.