Adsorptive removal of parachlorophenol (PCP) and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) from aqueous solutions by activated carbon prepared from coconut shell was studied and compared with activated carbon of commercial grade (CAC). Various chemical agents in different concentrations were used (KOH, NaOH, CaCO(3), H(3)PO(4) and ZnCl(2)) for the preparation of coconut shell activated carbon. The coconut shell activated carbon (CSAC) prepared using KOH as chemical agent showed high surface area and best adsorption capacity and was chosen for further studies. Batch adsorption studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of various parameters such as pH, adsorbent dose, contact time and initial PCP and TCP concentration. Adsorption equilibrium reached earlier for CSAC than CAC for both PCP and TCP concentrations. Under optimized conditions the prepared activated carbon showed 99.9% and 99.8% removal efficiency for PCP and TCP, respectively, where as the commercially activated carbon had 97.7% and 95.5% removal for PCP and TCP, respectively, for a solution concentration of 50mg/L. Adsorption followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. The equilibrium adsorption data were analysed by Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson and Sips model using non-linear regression technique. Freundlich isotherms best fitted the data for adsorption equilibrium for both the compounds (PCP and TCP). Similarly, acidic pH was favorable for the adsorption of both PCP and TCP. Studies on pH effect and desorption revealed that chemisorption was involved in the adsorption process. The efficiency of the activated carbon prepared was also tested with real pulp and paper mill effluent. The removal efficiency using both the carbons were found highly satisfactory and was about 98.7% and 96.9% as phenol removal and 97.9% and 93.5% as AOX using CSAC and CAC, respectively.