With the perpetual increase of environmental pollutants, the threat to human life, flora and fauna is also increasing. The need of the hour is to look for methods for the effective removal of the toxic pollutants, while keeping the economic viability and environmental benignity in mind. Removal of toxic pollutants by adsorption on metal oxides has shown immense potential. The metal oxides with large surface area, porous structures, large number of active sites, thermal stability, easy recovery and low toxicity have shown outstanding performance for the adsorption and remediation of contaminants. This review discusses the recent experimental and computational studies on the widely used and promising metal oxides for the effective removal of toxic organic pollutants, including, dyes, pesticides and chemical warfare agents.