The pollution of heavy metals in soil to the environment is becoming more and more serious, resulting in the reduction of crop production and the occurrence of medical accidents. In order to remove heavy metal ions from soil and reduce the harm of heavy metals to the environment, modified peanut shell was used to adsorb Cr3+ in this article. The effects of different adsorption conditions on the adsorption rate and adsorption capacity of Cr3+ on ZnCl2 modified peanut shell were studied, the best adsorption conditions were explored, and the relationship of kinetics, thermodynamics and adsorption isotherm properties of adsorption process were explored. The results showed that the optimum adsorption pH value, dosage, initial concentration, adsorption temperature and contact time of ZnCl2 modified peanut shell were 2.5, 2.5 g/L, 75 μg/mL, 25 °C and 40 min, respectively. The prepared materials were characterized and analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analyzer. It was concluded that the modified peanut shell had a good adsorption capacity to Cr3+. The kinetic study showed that the adsorption process of Cr3+ on peanut shell modified by zinc chloride was in accordance with the quasi‐second‐order kinetic model. The adsorption process belonged to exothermic reaction and belonged to spontaneous reaction process. In summary, it is proved that zinc chloride modified peanut shell can efficiently adsorb Cr3+, which can be used for the treatment of heavy metal wastes in industry, which is beneficial to environmental protection and avoid heavy metal pollution.