Abstract: Alkali (NaOH)-copper (Cu(CH₃COO)₂) modified beaded active carbons (BACs) were developed to improve the adsorption capacity of BACs for non-polar pollutants. BET, SEM, Boehm titration and FT-IR analyses determined that the alkali-copper BACs had abundant irregular pore structure, small surface area and micropore volume, and high Cu loading on its surface. The surface characteristics enhanced the adsorption of toluene, which reached a peak under the conditions of the 8 mol/L NaOH solution and 0.5% of Cu(CH₃COO)₂ solution, indicating that the modification of BACs with high concentration NaOH solution and low concentration Cu(CH₃COO)₂ solution facilitated the highest adsorption of toluene. Compared with the activated carbon, the adsorption capacity of the BACs for toluene increased by 50.9%, the adsorption breakthrough time increased by 342.9%, and the adsorption equilibrium time increased by 77.4%. The proportion of carboxyl groups and phenolic hydroxyl groups on BAC surface decreased with the increase of NaOH concentration, while the number of carboxyl groups and acidic functional groups on the BACs surface increased with the increase of Cu(CH₃COO)₂ concentration. It was concluded that the adsorption capacity of the alkali-copper BACs for toluene maybe affected by pore structure and surface functional groups, especially the surface acidic functional groups, the main adsorption process is the combination of copper and toluene.