Benzotriazole and its derivatives are important industrial auxiliaries, which are serious pollution sources in the natural aquatic environment. Benzotriazole and its derivatives adsorption by a novel nano absorbent (nano Zn-Al-O binary metal oxide, named as ZAO) being explored as an effective water treatment method, was carried out in this study. Results showed that benzotriazole and its derivatives were all effectively adsorbed from water by ZAO. Removal efficiencies of benzotriazole, 5-methyl-benzotriazol and 5,6-dimethyl-benzotriazole with 5 g/L adsorbent dosage achieved 89%, 81% and 92%, respectively. The adsorption kinetics and isotherm models were used to express the adsorption process and discuss the adsorption mechanism. The adsorption kinetics well followed pseudo-second-order model, indicating that chemical adsorption dominated the adsorption. Adsorption isotherm was well expressed by Freundlich model. Structure characteristics of benzotriazole and its derivatives had great effect on their adsorption. Hydrogen-bond interaction was considered as the main mechanism for the surface adsorption. However, hydrophobic interactions played an important role in 5,6-dimethyl-benzotriazole adsorption due to its weak polarity.