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In this work, corn straw (CS) based porous carbon was prepared by one-step phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4) low temperature activation. The impregnation ratios (H 3 PO 4 /CS, g/g) played an important role in the pore development. ACS 300-1 engineered at 300 °C and the impregnation ratio of 1.0 showed the maximal specific surface area of 463.89 m2/g with total pore volume of 0.387 cm3/g, attaining a high tetracycline (TC) uptake of 227.3 mg/g. The adsorption of TC onto ACS 300-1 was found tolerant with wide pH (2.0–10.0) and high ionic strength (0 – 0.5 M). The adsorption data can be fitted well by the pseudo-second order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model. The endothermic and spontaneous properties of the adsorption system was implied by Thermodynamic study. The findings of the current work conclude that one-step H 3 PO 4 activation is a green and promising method for corn straw based porous carbon that may be found with great potentials in antibiotic containing wastewater treatment. Image 1 • Corn straw based porous carbon (ACS 300-1) was facilely prepared by one-step phosphoric acid low temperature activation. • ACS 300-1 showed high microporosity and specific surface area with excellent TC uptake capacity of 227.3 mg/g. • ACS 300-1 was tolerant with wide pH (2.0–10.0) and high ionic strength (0–0.5 M). • The adsorption behavior of TC onto ACS 300-1 surface was both physisorption and chemisorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]