The expanded graphite loaded with ferric hydroxide (EGFeOH) is prepared successfully. Its most suitable synthesis conditions are 0.26mol/L of ironic concentration and 100min of immersion time, respectively. The Langmuir model and the pseudo secondorder model are more suitable for well elucidation of the experimental data, indicating that the adsorption of phosphate is a monolayer chemisorption process. The positive ΔHΘ and negative ΔGΘ indicate that the process of phosphorus adsorption onto EGFeOH is spontaneous and endothermic. It is favorable for the phosphorus adsorption with the rising of temperature to some extent. EGFeOH performs excellently for phosphate adsorption in low concentration (5 mg?L-1). The ion exchange and lewis acidbase interactions are manifested to be two main mechanisms for phosphate adsorption of EGFeOH revealed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and change of pH values associated with the adsorption process. The EGFeOH after adsorption is also recovered using sodium hydroxide (NaOH).