The efficacy of the surface modification of fly ash by quarternary ammonium cations in the removal of dyes from aqueous solution is demonstrated. A series of organo-fly ash materials were synthesized by treating fly ash with quarternary ammonium cations such as tetraethyl ammonium, hexadecyltrimethylammonium, and benzyldimethyltetradecylammonium (TEA, HDTMA, and BDTDA). Two types of dyes were used for the investigation, disperse and anionic dyes. The effects of initial dye concentration, contact time, temperature, and the mechanism of dye sorption were investigated. The sorption was found to be affected by the structure and size of the quaternary ammonium cations as well as that of the dyes. Sorption of dyes was considerably enhanced by the surface modification. Thermodynamic parameters such as free energy (Delta G(0)), enthalpy (Delta H-0), and entropy (Delta S-0) for the sorption process were also calculated. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.