Highly selective material based on naturally occurring biomaterial namely chitosan has been designed for the defluoridation of water. Lanthanum incorporated chitosan beads (LCB) were prepared using precipitation method. The synthesis was optimized by varying different synthesis parameters namely lanthanum loading, complexation and precipitation time, strength of ammonia solution used for precipitation, drying time, etc. Lanthanum incorporated chitosan beads were characterized using SEM, FTIR, XRD and EDX. Surface area of LCB was observed to be 2.76 m(2)g(-1). The equilibrium adsorption data fitted well to Langmuir adsorption isotherm and showing maximum fluoride adsorption capacity of 4.7 mg g(-1) with negligible lanthanum release. Kinetic study reveals that adsorption of fluoride is fast and follows pseudo-first-order kinetics. The effect of pH was also studied and the best efficiency was observed at pH 5. Presence of sulphate, nitrate and chloride marginally affected the removal efficiency, however drastic reduction in fluoride uptake was observed in the presence of carbonate and bicarbonate. Negative value of change in free energy (DeltaG degrees) and positive value of change in entropy (DeltaS degrees) suggest the adsorption of fluoride by LCB is feasible and spontaneous process. Positive value of change in enthalpy (DeltaH degrees) suggests the process of fluoride adsorption is endothermic in nature. Regeneration study reveals that 1M ammonium chloride solution appears to be the promising regeneration media showing 81.22% regeneration. The adsorption capacity of LCB was similar in fluoride-contaminated ground water collected from Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, India, as compared to simulated water.