A new type of porous carbon are prepared by cost-effective pyrolysis carbonization and the subsequent alkali activation of an easily available biomass, magnolia leaf (ML). The as-prepared ML porous carbons (MPCs) show high specific surface areas, suitable pore size distributions. Surface characterization of ML and MCP-1 were investigated by N 2 adsorption, FT-IR, SEM and TEM. Two anionic azo dyes were used, namely orange II (OII) and methyl orange (MO) to simulate the textile effluent. Batch experiments of OII and MO in single dye system (SDS) and binary dye system (BDS) onto MCP-1 were investigated as a function of pH, contact time and species concentrations. The adsorption process followed the Langmuir isotherm model with high coefficients of correlation (R 2 > 0.999). The pseudo second order kinetic model fitted well in correlation to the experimental results. This work indicates that MPCs demonstrated a superior OII and MO adsorption capabilities and could be employed as a low cost alternative to commercially available porous carbon in the removal of dyes from wastewater. adsorbent for the removal of OII and MO from single and binary dye aqueous solution.Adsorption ability of the Batch adsorption tests demonstrate that the adsorption is affected by various conditions such as contact time, solution pH and initial dye concentration. The equilibrium data of the removal strongly follow the Langmuir monolayer adsorption with high adsorption capacity in a short amount of time. The kinetics studies showed applicability of pseudo-second-order model. Weber and Morris plot verified the adsorption mechanism was due to multi-linearity correlation.The π-π stacking interaction between the surface of porous carbon and dyes could be one of the important responsiblity for the high adsorptive performance of the MPC-1.Therefore, we conclude that MPCs material can be used as highly efficient adsorbents and reused for the removal of anionic azo-dyes from wastewater.