In this study, the acetaldehyde removal characteristics of activated carbon (AC) for air purifier filters were investigated using metal catalysts-impregnation and functional group-modification method. The AC with a high specific surface area(1700 m2/g) and micropores was prepared by KOH activation of coconut charcoal and the efficiency of catalyst and functional group immobilization was examined by varying the drying conditions within the pores after immersion. The physical properties of the prepared activated carbon were analyzed by BET, ICP, EA, and FT-IR, and the acetaldehyde adsorption performances were investigated using gas chromatography (GC) at various impregnation and modified conditions. As the concentration of impregnation solution increased, the amount of impregnated metal catalysts increased, while the specific surface area showed a decreasing trend. The adsorption tests of the metal catalyst-impregnated and functional group-modified activated carbons revealed that excellent adsorption performance in compositions MgO10@AC, CaO10@AC, EU10@AC, and H-U3N1@AC, respectively. The MgO10@AC, which showed the highest adsorption performance, had a breakthrough time of 533.8 minutes and adsorption capacity of 57.4 mg/g for acetaldehyde adsorption. It was found that the nano-sized MgO catalyst on the activated carbon improved the adsorption performance by interacting with carbonyl groups of acetaldehyde.