The widespread of organic and inorganic pollutants in wastewater from various industries, are responsible for serious environmental problems meanwhile represent a danger for human being. Therefore, the search of cost-effective methods of wastewater treatment containing in particular heavy metals and dyes, become of great importance. Noteworthy, adsorption has proven to be most effective technology for purification of wastewater from organic and inorganic pollutants. In this review, different types of green and ecofriendly materials (biosorbents, graphene-based composites, metal oxides, etc.) for dyes and heavy metals adsorption will be discussed. The biosorbents such as agricultural waste materials (waste seeds, orange peel, exhausted coffee ground powder, wood apple shell, sweet potato peels, wheat straws, etc.), activated carbon prepared from different types of agricultural waste (coconut husk, forest and wood-processing residues, papaya seeds, magnetic biochar etc.), graphene-based adsorbents and their derivatives, obtained by eco-friendly green synthesis, have been discussed and their adsorption activity has been described in details. © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019.