The aim of the present work was to investigate the potential of multicarboxylic hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG) modified mesoporous SBA-15 (SBA/HPG-COOH) as adsorbent for the removal of cationic dyes or/and heavy metal ions from aqueous media. The SBA/HPG-COOH adsorbents can be facilely synthesized through two steps: in situ anionic ring-opening polymerization of glycidol and further modification of hydroxyl groups by succinic anhydride. The resulting SBA/HPG-COOH was characterized by means of FTIR, TGA, XRD, SEM and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms. The results demonstrate that the SBA/HPG-COOH was successfully synthesized and the density of carboxylic groups on the SBA/HPG-COOH is calculated to be as high as 1.5 mmol/g, posing a powerful base for adsorbing cationic adsorbates. Four kinds of dyes and copper ions were chosen as representatives to investigate the adsorption ability of SBA/HPG-COOH. The SBA/HPG-COOH adsorbent showed quick adsorption rate, high adsorption capacity (e.g., its saturated adsorption capacity for methylene blue (MB) can reach 0.50 mmol/g, while for unmodified SBA-15 is lower than 0.05 mmol/g), and high selectivity for cationic adsorbates. The fitness of Langmuir adsorption model and pseudo second-order kinetics on describing the adsorption isotherm and kinetics of SBA/HPG-COOH for MB dye was examined, respectively. It is believed that this robust SBA/HPG-COOH adsorbent will find important application in removal of cationic adsorbates from aqueous solution. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.