Sewage sludge was cross-linked with epichlorohydrin to increase its mechanical strength and applicability as an absorbent material. We investigated the effect of the conditions of the cross-linking reaction on the mechanical strength and Cu (II) adsorption capacity of epichlorohydrin cross-linking sewage sludge (ECS). Experimental results showed that cross-linking can raise signifi cantly the mechanical strength of sewage sludge. To improve the adsorption capacity of ECS, carboxymethyl cross-linked sewage sludge (CCS) with maximal adsorption capacity (65mg/g) for Cu (II) was synthesized from ECS by using chloroacetic acid as the etherifi cation agent. The experimental results showed that the adsorption properties of CCS for Cu (II) could best be described by the pseudo-second order model and Langmuir model, and the adsorption mechanism was ion exchange. Our data suggest that CCS is a promising absorbent for removal of heavy metals from wastewater.