Abstract: Experiments have been conducted to examine the liquid-phase adsorption of phenol from aqueous solutions by rice husk ash and granular activated carbon. In this experiment, rice husk ash was prepared at three different temperature: 300, 00 and 500°C. Batch kinetics and isotherm studies were carried out to evaluate the effect of contact time, pH, initial phenol concentration and adsorbent dose. Batch kinetic studies showed that an equilibrium time of 5 h was needed for the adsorption of 10 mg L-1 phenol concentration. Maximum phenol adsorption capacity of rice husk ashes prepared at 300, 00 and 500°C and granular activated carbon was 0.951, , 0.989 and 1 mg phenol g-1 adsorbent, respectively. Batch studies indicated that the optimum pH for the adsorption of phenol was 5 at 21±2°C. The capacity of phenol adsorption at equilibrium increased with the increase of initial phenol concentration (10-300 mg L-1) and decreased with the increase of adsorbents dose (1-10 g L-1). Kinetics of adsorption obeyed a first order rate equation. The suitability of the Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption models to the equilibrium data were investigated for each phenol-sorbent system. The results showed that the equilibrium data for rice husk ashes prepared at 400 and 500°C and granular activated carbon could be well by the Freundlich isotherm model, whereas the equilibrium data for rice husk ash prepared at 300°C fitted the Langmuir isotherm model best within the concentration range studied. The studies showed that the rice husk ash could be used as a new and efficient adsorbent material for the removal of phenol from aqueous solutions.