Abstract: Exploiting adsorbents with excellent adsorption activity, good durability and environment friendly is still the core focus of water pollution treatment. Herein, in this study, sodium alginate (SA), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and graphene oxide (GO) were used as raw materials to frame a SA-CMC-GO composite aerogel with a 3D network structure by a sol-gel and freeze-drying method. The functional group structure and microstructure of SA-CMC-GO composite aerogel were tested and analyzed by SEM, FTIR and XRD. Various parameters affecting the removal of Pb²⁺ such as pH, temperature and contact time were optimized by using a series of batch adsorption experiments. The results show that the adsorption amount of Pb²⁺ by the composite aerogel increases with the increase of pH=2-5. The adsorption process is a spontaneous exothermic process and the experimental data of the adsorption process are more fitted to Langmuir isotherm, the theoretical maximum adsorption capacity of Pb²⁺ on SA-CMC-GO composite aerogel is 272.5 mg·g⁻¹. Adsorption kinetics studies indicate the adsorption of Pb²⁺ by the SA-CMC-GO composite aerogel shows rapid uptake rates and reaches equilibrium within 60 min. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model coincides with the adsorption behavior of the composite aerogel. Furthermore, the composite aerogel exhibited better reusability for five adsorption and desorption cycles with highly adsorption properties. The results imply that the new SA-CMC-GO composite aerogel could be potentially applied as an effective and rapid adsorbent for Pb²⁺ removal from aqueous solutions.