The adsorption of five reactive dyes in a synthetic textile dye effluent onto barley husks has been studied in static-batch mode and in a continuous flow, packed-bed, reactor (CFPBR). Effective adsorption, thermodynamics and various initial concentrations (C0) were studied for static batch conditions. The effect of C0 and retention time (r), by varying height and weight of packing, along with the kinetics of dye adsorption in CFPBR, were studied. The Langmuir isotherm was used to predict saturation capacities. The barley husks were found to remove 8 mg g(-1) of dyes at C0 100 mg l(-1) in CFPBR with a residence of 11 min, with 90% adsorption being achieved.