A laboratory investigation on the adsorption of hazardous methylene chloride (METH) vapor on the commercial activated carbons BPL and PCB, which were made from bituminous coal and coconut shell, respectively, was conducted at 283, 293, 303, and 313 K. The physical properties and surface functional groups of the two activated carbons were also measured and compared with each other. The experimental results indicate that the adsorption capacity of carbon PCB is slightly higher than that of carbon BPL. It was found that the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevich adsorption equations were well fitted by the measured adsorption data. The values of the parameters of the adsorption equations were determined for the two adsorbents. The physical properties (e.g. micropore volume) of the adsorbents are consistent with the parameters obtained from the adsorption results.