Abstract: To improve the adsorption performance of polar，hydrophilic haloacetic acids（HAAs）on non-polar，hydrophobic activated carbon，the surface properties and HAAs adsorption ability of several activated carbons of different origins were characterized with N₂ adsorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and HAAs isothermal adsorption experiments, and the relationship between the surface chemistry characteristics and the adsorption ability of HAAs onto activated carbon was investigated.It was found that the adsorption capacity was influenced by the properties and contents of the surface chemical group.The adsorption capacity was higher with a lower oxo-group content.