Sediment capping is an effective way to control internal pollution sources in eutrophic water. However, there is a lack of research on absorption of sediment nutrients – especially both nitrogen and phosphorus – by materials that are low-cost to be utilized in engineering. In this study, zeolite and shale ceramsite (ZSC) were selected to explore their adsorption performance on sediment nutrients. And the morphology and microstructure of ZSC were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Results showed that the optimal proportion of ZSC on sediment nutrients adsorption was 2:1. The removal rates of sediment nutrients did not increase with the increasing dosage of ZSC, and optimal dosage of ZSC was 5 g with 5 g sediments. And the adsorption performance by the ZSC on sediment nutrients was mainly on total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN) and ammonia nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N). The adsorption mechanism analysis found that ZSC adsorbed sediment nitrogen and phosphorus mainly by physical adsorption and nonspecific chemisorptions. These results indicated that ZSC can be further used to control and reduce sediment nutrients in eutrophic water.