ABSTRACT Egypt is rich with a wide marine life which is ranked as one of the most sensitive environmental habitats in the world as well as a worldwide tourist attraction. However, there are major oil exploratory zones. The global oil spills can cause a lot of distress to affected communities. Accidental spills of oil can deposit very large volumes into a sea over a short period. The high concentrations of toxic components released from the oil, will affect the marine resources causing an ecological damage. So, quick removal of that pollution source and prevention of its distribution plays an important role in water purification and wastewater treatment engineering. Removal of oil by sorption has been observed to be one of the most effective techniques for complete removal of spilled oil under ambient conditions. In the present study, a crude oil was collected from Assuit oil refinery plant, Assuit, Egypt for the purpose of studying the treatment of effluent streams polluted with that oil. Rice straw, as an example for a natural agricultural residue, was used as an adsorbent. In addition, different methods were examined to explore the process of lignin removal from rice straw in order to maximize its efficiency in removing the oil. Besides, a synthetic sorbent material, namely, RP 18, produced by OPEC (Oil Pollution Environmental Control Ltd), was used for the object of comparison. Moreover, the combination between the synthetic and agricultural sorbents was studied. The process parameters such as the initial oil concentration in the effluent and the sorbent material surface area were optimized for the maximal removal rate. The results demonstrated that one gram of rice straw could absorb approximately 6.7 grams of oil to reach saturation. This corresponds to 12.16 grams for the synthetic sorbent. The rice straw removal efficiency reached 100% at low concentrations, however, the efficiency decreased after saturation. Finally, a new design criterion for an oil filter for marine pollution fighting was outlined.