Adsorption can be used as a cost effective and efficient technique for the removal of toxic heavy metals from wastewater. Waste materials with no further treatment such as coffee grounds from cafeterias may act as adsorbents for the removal of cadmium. Batch kinetic and equilibrium experiments were conducted to study the effects of contact time, adsorbent dose, initial pH, particle size, initial concentration of cadmium and temperature. Three adsorption isotherm models namely, Langmuir. Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich were used to analyse the equilibrium data. The Langmuir isotherm which provided the best correlation for Cd2+ adsorption onto coffee grounds, shows that the adsorption was favourable and the adsorption capacity found was equal to 15.65 mgg(-1). Thermodynamic parameters were evaluated and the adsorption was exothermic. The equilibrium was achieved less than 120 min. The adsorption kinetic data was fitted with first and second order kinetic models. Finally it was concluded that the cadmium adsorption kinetic onto coffee grounds was well fitted by second order kinetic model rather than first order model. The results suggest that coffee grounds have high possibility to be used as effective and economical adsorbent for Cd2+ removal. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.