The two-dimensional coordination polymer cadmium phosphate with the morphology of rectangle layers was prepared by solid-state template reaction at room temperature, and was characterized by XRD, FTIR, and TEM techniques. The as-synthesized sample is a layered cadmium phosphate material, in which the structure is poly (CdPO4-) anion framework with ammonium ions and water species residing in the space between the layers, and cadmium ions are coordinated by the phosphate oxygen atoms. This article also presents the adsorption of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution on the as-synthesized coordination polymer cadmium phosphate, and the results showed that this inorganic polymer adsorbent had good adsorption capacity. It could reach to the saturation adsorption capacity within an hour, and its excellent adsorption capacity for Pb(II) was 5.50 mmol/g when the initial solution concentration was 1.68 X 10(3) mu g/mL at T = 278K. Moreover, the adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherms were studied, it revealed that the adsorption kinetics can be modeled by pseudo second-order rate equation wonderfully. The apparent activation energy (E-a), Delta G, Delta H, and Delta S were 3.16 kJ mol(-1), -13.97 kJ mol(-1), -11.84 kJ mol(-1), and 7.66 J mol(-1) K-1, respectively. And it was found that Langmuir equation could well interpret the adsorption of the as-synthesized coordination polymer cadmium phosphate for Pb(II) ions. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.