Activated carbon with surface area of 896 m(2)/g has been prepared from the wood of Thevetia Neriifolia Juss (TNJAC). The fitness of the prepared activated carbon is tested for its adsorption capability towards the textile dye direct orange 102 (DO102). On increasing the solution pH from 2 to 12, the percentage of DO102 adsorption increases from 41 to 75%. The adsorption kinetics is analyzed using pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order kinetic models. Pseudo-second order model is more appropriate to describe the adsorption kinetics with a correlation coefficient of 0.9311< r(2) < 0.9871. On analyzing the adsorption isotherm using Langmuir and Freundlich models, the adsorption of DO102 by TNJAC follows Langmuir type of isotherm with energetically homogeneous sorbent surface.