Mesoporous carbons were impregnated with the anionic and cationic surfactants to increase adsorbing capacity for heavy metal ions. Prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms. Batch adsorption studies were carried out to study the effect of various parameters like contact time, pH, metal ion concentration and agitation speed. The mercury removal by cationic surfactant cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) modified mesoporous carbon and unmodified mesoporous carbon were found to be 94%, 81.6% and 54.5%, respectively while the manganese removal for these adsorbents were found to be 82.2%, 70.5% and 56.8%, respectively. The sorption data were fit better with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm than Freundlich isotherm.