The adsorption of copper(II), zinc(II), nickel(II), lead(II), and cadmium(II) on Amberlite IR-120 synthetic sulfonated resin has been studied at different pH and temperatures by batch process. The effects of parameters such as amount of resin, resin contact time, pH, and temperature on the ion exchange separation have been investigated. For the determination of the adsorption behavior of the resin, the adsorption isotherms of metal ions have also been studied. The concentrations of metal ions have been measured by batch techniques and with AAS analysis. Adsorption analysis results obtained at various concentrations showed that the adsorption pattern on the resin followed Freundlich isotherms. Here we report the method that is applied for the sorption/separation of some toxic metals from their solutions. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.