Eichhornia charcoal and surfactant modified eichhornia charcoal are prepared and characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, BET, pHPZC, and Boehm titrations. Effect of pH, contact time, adsorbent dose, and temperature are investigated to optimize conditions for adsorption of dye safranin. Experimental data were speculated for various kinetic and thermodynamics models and alluded that adsorption follows second order kinetic model. The Langmuir model deduced the maximum adsorption capacity as 84.8 mg gā1for modified adsorbent. Thermodynamics and activation parameters corroborated that present adsorption system is spontaneous, feasible, endothermic, particle diffusion controlled, and physical in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]