Surface enhancement improves the porousness and surface area (SSA) of biomass
materials, which boosts their adsorption capability. This work investigates recent advances in
surface modification technologies of biomass-based materials for heavy metal adsorption, including
Pb, As, Cr, Fe, Cd, Mn, Cu, Co, Hg, Ni, Zn, and their ions in waters/wastewaters. The
chemical structure and surface properties of biomass were examined in connection with various
surface modification approaches and their effects on the adsorption process. In addition, adsorption
performance we assessed using various operating conditions, isotherms, kinetics, and computational
and artificial intelligence methodologies. This study found that acid-activated Posidonia
oceanica had the highest adsorption effectiveness of 631.13 mg/g to eliminate Pb2+, whereas
H3PO4/furnace-modified oil palm biomass had the lowest (0.1576 mg/g) for removing Cd2+.
Important insights into knowledge gaps for changing these materials for extremely effective
adsorption performance were emphasized to improve the area.