As a remedy for environmental pollution, a versatile synthetic approach has been developed to prepare polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/nitrogen-doped carbon dots (CDs) composite film (PVA-CDs) for removal of toxic cadmium ions. The CDs were first synthesized using carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) of oil palms empty fruit bunch wastes with the addition of polyethyleneimine (PEI) and then the CDs were embedded with PVA. The PVA-CDs film possess synergistic functionalities through increasing the content of hydrogen bonds for chemisorption compared to the pure CDs. Optical analysis of PVA-CDs film was performed by ultraviolet-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. Compared to the pure CDs, the solid-state PVA-CDs displayed a bright blue color with a quantum yield (QY) of 47%; they possess excitation-independent emission and a higher Cd2+ removal efficiency of 91.1%. The equilibrium state was achieved within 10 min. It was found that adsorption data fit well with the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm models. The maximum adsorption uptake was 113.6 mg g−1 at an optimal pH of 7. Desorption experiments showhe that adsorbent can be reused fruitfully for five adsorption-desorption cycles using 0.1 HCl elution. The film was successfully applied to real water samples with a removal efficiency of 95.34% and 90.9% for tap and drinking water, respectively. The fabricated membrane is biodegradable and its preparation follows an ecofriendly green route.