Recovery of the tellurium from wastewater is signi cance for both industrial applications and sustainable development due to the adverse impacts emanating from environmental pollution and strategic values in the photovoltaic industry. Herein, this study presents the recovery of tellurium from wastewater by owerlike structure ZnO-Ag@cellulose (ZAC) composites. For adsorbent preparation, lignocellulose was rst extracted from waste wood debris by an alkaline extraction process. Then, the ower-like structure of ZAC composites were synthesized by a facile one-step hydrothermal method. The obtained materials are conducted under different parameters to investigate tellurium adsorption properties. The results indicate that the tellurium adsorption process is an exothermic reaction and ts well to the Freundlich model. Kinetic data are well described by pseudo-second-order model, indicating ZAC adsorption of tellurium is a chemical process. Besides, as-prepared ZAC exhibited excellent performance for tellurium elimination from wastewater with a maximum removal e ciency of 98.86%. The ZAC also shows outstanding antifouling performance in polluted environment and can still achieve the rate of 94.23% for tellurium. Moreover, the ZAC composite reveals high reusability and stability after six desorption-regeneration cycles. Importantly, the ZAC composite exhibits disinfection performance against E. coli and S. aureus with high killing e ciency. Therefore, this work not only demonstrates ZAC composite is e cient adsorbent with antifouling and antibacterial capability for tellurium recovery, but also provides an effective channel for promising candidates to decontaminate similar pollutants and practical applications of wastewater. Highlights 1. The ZAC composites were fabricated via a facile one-step hydrothermal method.2. The raw materials are extracted from waste wood debris using alkaline extraction process to extract lignocellulose.3. The prepared composite material has high antifouling and antibacterial ability for the adsorption of tellurium (IV). 4. The resulting composite material exhibits excellent performance, with a maximum removal rate of tellurium (IV) was 98.86%.5. The prepared adsorbent has excellent stability and reusable ability to remove tellurium in wastewater.