Abstract: In this study, dead Gymnodinium breve cells and dead Skeletonema costatum cells were used as two adsorbents, which had been characterized of their physical and chemical properties. The adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherm of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) in two adsorbents were fitted, also, the effect of pH and ionic strength on adsorption were considered. The results showed that the adsorption of DBP by two adsorbents followed pseudo second-order kinetics, and the adsorption process is dominated by chemical adsorption. Further analysis showed that the adsorption isotherms of two adsorbents for DBP correspond to Freundlich model, and the adsorption process is a mixed adsorption dominated by multilayer adsorption. When the pH value was lower than 3.5, the adsorption capacity of two adsorbents decreased with the increase of pH, and then showed an increasing trend as the pH was increased from 3.5 to 9.5. When the concentration of NaCl increased from 0 to 0.05 mol/L, the adsorption capacity of DBP by two adsorbents increased rapidly, and with the increase of NaCl concentration from 0.05 mol/L to 0.50 mol/L, no significant changes in adsorption ability were observed. This research proved that dead algae cells can adsorb DBP in water, and the dead Gymnodinium breve cells without cell walls obtained higher adsorption ability than dead Skeletonema costatum cells. The research results have great significance for the application of dead algae cells to remove PAEs in water.