Poly[4-(4-vinylbenzyloxy)-2-hydrobenzaldehyde]. PVBH, a salicylaldehyde chelating functional group-based polymer has been found to be capable of the removal of low concentration of cadmium metal ion in ppb level from aqueous media. The adsorption fits best with the Langmuir model, indicating the monolayer coverage of the metal ion on the surface of chelating polymer. The RL values have indicated the favorable adsorption in the range of all the ppb concentrations studied. The kinetic study has revealed a very fast adsorption process with the rate following the pseudo-second-order. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.