A novel method was proposed to prepare amino starch by reacting ethylenediamine with previously synthesized dialdehyde starch. Different factors affecting the preparation, i.e., ethylenediamine concentration, ethylenediamine:dialdehyde starch molar ratio, pH, duration and temperature have been studied. The modified starch was characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. The amino starch derivatives were evaluated as adsorbents. The adsorption activity for heavy metals such as Cu(II) and Cr(VI) by crosslinked amino starch was studied in terms of adsorption amount, kinetics and isotherm; and adsorbent reuse were also studied. Adsorption processes for Cu(II) and Cr(VI) on crosslinked amino starch fit a Langmuir isotherm, and adsorption for Cu(II) and Cr(VI) from aqueous solution was endothermic reactions. Crosslinked amino starch was very effective for the adsorption of Cu(II) and Cr(VI), and efficient in capacity, recycled. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.