In this work the removal of manganese II, of mining industry effluent was studied, by sorption, using two types of sorbent s: palygorskite ore and heavy coal ash (proceeding from coal burning of a thermo electrical plant ). A brief historical of metals sorption in clays and oxides was presented, besides the characteristics of sorption processes and the analysis of the main works available in literature, looking for evidence isotherms and sorption kinetic data in similar sorbent s. The sorbents characterization was realized by: screen anal ysis, X-ray fluorescence and diffraction, thermo gravimetric analysis, specific surface area (BET) and scanning electron microscopy. To evaluate the multiple effect of the variable s: manganese initial concentration, pH, ionic strength and ratio sor bent/sol ution, in the manganese sorption was used the surface res ponse methodology, us ing a statistical experimental central composite design for both sor bents. The most significant variables were the ratio sorbent/solution, the initial manganese concentration and the ionic strength, for the pal ygorskite; and for coal ash were the initial manganese concentration, the ratio sorbent/solution and the pH. It was determined the manganese sorption kinetic at different pH values at 25ºC.The pseudo-second order model found to be the best correlation for both types of sorbents. The greater kinetic constant was obtained in pH 8.5 (26.6 g.mg-1min-1) for the palygorskite and for coal ash in pH 6,0 (5. 02 g.mg-1min-1). Langmuir and Freundlich models had been tested to evaluate the sorption capacity of the sorbents. The experimental data were correlated better by the Freundlich isotherm model for the palygorskite and the Langmuir isotherm model for coal ash. The importance of the results aim to use these sorbents in the manganese removal in agreement with the characteristics of the effluent and the availability of sor bent s, besides, opening the possibility to use these sor bents for the removal of other metals.