The activated sludge was prepared at 500 ℃ with biochemical sludge as raw material and zinc chloride as modifier. The effects of different initial pH on the adsorption of methylene blue on activated sludge were investigated .The isothermal curves and kinetic models were fitted. The results of SEM images show that the surface of the activated sludge is rough and the hollow structure is developed. The carbon loss in the preparation process is large. The experimental results show that the adsorption capacity of activated sludge to methylene blue increases with the increase of pH, but has limited effect in the range of 3 ~ 9. The adsorption of methylene blue on activated sludge was in accordance with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm and pseudo - second - order kinetics model.