Residue of allspice (Pimento dioica L Merrill) obtained as a by-product from the hydro-distillation oil process, has been studied as a low cost biosorbent for removing lead (II) ion from water solution at different temperatures. Batch experiments were performed with aqueous lead solutions of concentration 25 mg L-1, at pH 5 and adsorbent dosage 1.0 g biosorbent per liter of solution. According to pseudo-second order kinetic model, the maximum adsorption capacity was 22.37 mg g(-1) of Pb (II) on residue of allspice (RA). This value was reached at 90 min and temperature of 308K. Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) adsorption isotherm models were applied as an attempt to mathematically represent adsorption data. These three equations were found to be applicable to this adsorption system, in terms of relatively high regression values. Thermodynamic parameters showed that the adsorption of lead (II) onto RA was feasible, spontaneous, and endothermic under the studied conditions. The elemental analysis from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) before and after the contact showed that lead was adsorbed by RA. Diffusion results, the value of the free energy E(kJ mol(-1)), XPS and FTIR analysis confirmed that the lead (II) adsorption process onto RA was controlled by chemisorption. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.