The magnetic adsorbent nanoparticle was modified using cationic surface active agent. Zinc ferrite nanoparticle and cetyl trimethylammonium bromide were used as an adsorbent and a surface active agent, respectively. Dye removal ability of the surface modified nanoparticle as an adsorbent was investigated. Direct Green 6 (DG6), Direct Red 31 (DR31) and Direct Red 23 (DR23) were used. The characteristics of the adsorbent were studied using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The effect of adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration and salt was evaluated. In ternary system, dye removal of the adsorbent at 90, 120, 150 and 200 mg/L dye concentration was 63, 45, 30 and 23% for DR23, 97, 90, 78 and 45% for DR31 and 51, 48, 42 and 37% for DG6, respectively. It was found that dye adsorption onto the adsorbent followed Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption kinetic of dyes was found to conform to pseudo-second order kinetics.