The adsorption ability of wood-based activated carbon to adsorb methylene blue (MB) and crystal violet (CV) from aqueous solution has been investigated. Adsorption studies were carried out on the batch experiment at different initial MB and CV concentrations (MB=150 mg/L~400 mg/L, CV=50 mg/L~350 mg/L), contact time, and temperature. The results showed that the MB and CV adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic and intraparticle diffusion was the rate-limiting step. Adsorption equilibrium data of the adsorption process fitted very well to both Langmuir and Freundlich model. The maximum adsorption capacity ($q_m$) by Langmuir constant was 416.7 mg/g for MB and 462.4 mg/g for CV. The thermodynamic parameters such as ${Delta}H^{circ}$, ${Delta}S^{circ}$ and ${Delta}G^{circ}$ were evaluated. The MB and CV adsorption process was found to be endothermic for the two dyes.