The use of low-cost locally available adsorbent, sawdust for the removal of methylene blue (MB) dye in a batch adsorber system has been investigated. The experimental data fitted best in Langmuir isotherm as compared to Freundlich and Temkin isotherms, showing maximum adsorption capacity of 76.92 mg/g. The study revealed that the adsorption of MB dye onto sawdust follows pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the same has been used in design of a two-stage batch adsorber by minimizing total contact time to attain a fixed percentage of MB dye removal. The minimum contact time required for the removal of MB dye with 99% efficiency has been found as 37.54 min.