Excessive phosphorus (P) in surface and ground water can cause serious environmental issues. This study aims to synthesize and characterize novel iron oxides (Fe O ) nanoparticles (NPs) with and without Ni and Ni-Pd doping and unravel the NPs' performance and mechanism for P removal from water. X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results confirmed successful doping of Ni and Ni-Pd on Fe O NPs. Fe O -Ni NPs exhibited a higher specific surface area and isoelectric point than Fe O and Fe O -Ni-Pd NPs. The kinetic data for P adsorption on Fe O NPs fitted to the pseudo-first order model and Fe O -Ni and Fe O -Ni-Pd NPs fitted to the pseudo-second order model. Adsorption isotherm data for Fe O NPs fitted to the Freundlich model and Fe O -Ni and Fe O -Ni-Pd NPs fitted to the Langmuir model. The maximum P adsorption capacity was the highest for Fe O -Ni (35.66 mg g) followed by Fe O -Ni-Pd (30.73 mg g) and Fe O NPs (21.97 mg g), which was opposite to the P desorption order of these adsorbents. The adsorption and characterization analysis suggested that inner-sphere complexes and co-precipitation were the key mechanisms for P adsorption on Fe O -Ni and Fe O -Ni-Pd NPs. Therefore, Fe O -Ni NPs were a highly effective adsorbent for removing P from water.