The discharge of heavy metals into aquatic ecosystems has become a matter of concern over the last few decades. These pollutants are introduced into the aquatic systems significantly as a result of various industrial operations. This paper describes the adsorption behaviour of cation exchange resin purolite C100 with respect to Ce4+, Fe3+ and Pb2+ in order to consider its application to purify metal finishing wastewaters. The batch method has been employed, using metal concentrations in solution ranging from 2.65 to 265 mg/L The adsorption percentages (%) and distribution coefficient (K-d) were determined for the adsorption system in the aqueous media as a function of sorbate concentration. The experimental isotherm data were analyzed using the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Kaganer-Radushkevich (DKR) equations. It was found that the adsorption phenomena depend on charge density and hydrated ion diameter. According to the equilibrium studies, the metal ions sequence can be given as Ce4+ > Fe3+ > Pb2+. These results show that cation exchange resin purolite C100 holds great potential to remove cationic heavy metal species from polluted wastewater. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.