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• First report on Biosynthesis of Iron oxide nanoparticles using peel extracts of Citrus paradisi. • Cost-effective, non toxic and environmentally benign method is proposed. • Iron oxide nanoparticles are mostly spherical shape with an average size of 28–32 nm. • The as-synthesised iron oxide nanoparticles can be used nanoadsorbent for removal of toxic dyes. In the present study, iron oxide nanoparticles (FeONPs) were firstly synthesized using non-edible peel extracts of Citrus paradisi , which is abundantly available in the Andean Region, Latin America. Characterizations techniques like Visual, U.V.–Vis spectroscopy, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with Selected area electron diffraction (SAED), X- ray diffraction (XRD) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were performed for characterization of as-prepared material in terms of size, morphology, composition and structure. Furthermore, based on the Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, a possible synthesis mechanism was proposed for the synthesis of FeONPs. The DLS shows that the FeONPs with average size of 27.1 ± 13.9 nm and TEM analysis confirms that the FeONPs are mostly spherical shape, aggregating in nature with an average size of 28–32 nm, respectively. XRD confirmed the existence of Fe 3 O 4, α-Fe 2 O 3 and γ-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticle mixture, whereas TG analysis indicated that the nanoparticles contain 76% metal,16% adsorbed moisture and 8% capping ligand. Finally, as prepared iron nanoparticles exhibited antioxidant activities against 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (>15%, 100 µg) and also they were used for the treatment of different synthetic dyes (Methyl Rose, MR; Methylene Blue, MB and Methyl Orange, MO) to evaluate their adsorbity. The different decolourization percentages were obtained for the dyes MR (96.65%, 50 mg/L), MB (80.76%, 10 mg/L) and MO (89.64%,10 mg/L), respectively for 6 h at 25 °C. As a result, the use of agricultural waste as Citrus paradisi peel in nanoscience offers a sustainable, low cost, non toxic and friendly to the environment compared to other synthetic methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]