Powder activated carbon (PAC), derived from calligonum pollygonides, was successfully modified with the ionic liquid (IL) trihexyltetradecylphosphonium bromide ([PC6C6C6C14][Br]) in the presence of sodium alginate and characterized using SEM, FTIR and TGA. PAC, granular AC (GAC), AC-alginate and AC-Alg-IL bead were assessed for the removal of phenol from aqueous media via batch adsorption. Both PAC and AC-Alg-IL beads displayed high adsorption capacities, 123 mg/g and 78 mg/g, respectively, under optimized conditions. In contrast, GAC gave a much lower adsorption capacity than AC-ALG-IL beads, indicating that AC-ALG-IL beads are superior as potential adsorbents for this industrial application. Theoretical studies showed that the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Freundlich isotherm models were suitable to describe the adsorption process. The interaction between phenol and AC-Alg-IL beads was analyzed using the conductor-like screening model for realistic solvents (COSMO-RS). It has been concluded that AC-Alg-IL beads can be used as an efficient adsorbent for phenol and other organic compounds.