A novel lead@magnetic activated carbon (Pb@MAC) composite was developed using the chemical co-precipitation method. Instrumental analyses such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis were performed to characterize adsorbent. The uptake of phenol from aqueous solutions using the developed adsorbent was compared to that of pristine activated carbon. The maximum adsorption capacity of Pb@MAC composite (145.708 mg/g) was more than that of pristine activated carbon (116.606 mg/g) due to the metal hydroxides coated on activated carbon since they improve the retention of phenol on the available active sites of adsorbent and create an additional electrostatic interaction with the phenol adsorbate. Regarding the high value of the coefficient of determination (R2) and adjusted determination coefficient (R2adj), coupled with the lower values of average relative error (ARE) and minimum squared error (MSE), it can be found that the isothermal data for the Pb@MAC adsorbent were in agreement with the isotherm models of Redlich-Peterson and Langmuir. From the kinetic viewpoint, pseudo-second-order model explained the phenol adsorption data for both adsorbents. The reusability tests for Pb@MAC composite revealed that after six cycles, 85% of the initial adsorption capacity was maintained. Therefore, the developed adsorbent can be successfully applied to uptake phenol from aqueous solutions. Then, fixed-bed studies for phenol uptake from water were carried out using lead ferrite coated-activated carbon composite (Pb@MAC) and pristine activated carbon. In column studies, the influence of initial phenol concentration, column bed height, and solution flow rate was investigated at natural pH. Adsorption of phenol onto Pb@MAC composite and pristine activated carbon was analyzed in the form of breakthrough curves. Under optimum conditions, the maximum adsorption capacities for