A new porous jute leaf fibres (JLF) sorbent was prepared by soxhlet extraction using chloroform/n-butyl alcohol (1∶1). The JLF sorbent showed a high Cd(II) sorption capacity (198.79 mg/g), due to its porous structure with maximal exposure of functional groups. The sorbent could be well conducted in a wide pH range of 5~8. The removal efficiencies of Cd(II) kept over 86% in the presence of Ca(II) or Mg(II) with concentrations of 60 times higher than Cd(II). Significantly, JLF kept a high sorption efficiency of 97% and structural stability after five cycles. The heavy metals in actual industrial effluent could be efficiently removed, especially, the concentrations of Pb(II), Cd(II) and Cr(VI) decreased below 0.001 mg/L with a low sorbent dosage of 2 g/L. The sorption mainly occurred between metal ions and carboxyl groups, determined by FTIR and XPS methods.