This research investigates the adsorption properties of three activated carbons (AC) derived from coconut, coal, and wood origin. A linear relationship exists between the number of water molecules adsorbed onto each AC and the oxygen content determined elemental analysis and XPS. An inverse linear relationship exists between the plateau amount of dodecanoic acid anionic surfactant and the oxygen content on the surface of ACs. The surface charge on each AC’s surface had a linear relationship with the plateau amount of dodecanoic acid. A plug-flow heterogeneous surface diffusion model (PFHSDM) for a fixed-bed adsorption process was developed to describe the adsorption kinetics in a fixed-bed column. The model represents axially dispersed plug-flow, external mass transfer, adsorption equilibrium on the fluid-particle interface, and intraparticle diffusion. The larger molecular dimension of the dodecanoic acid as a more hydrophobic entity than octanoic acid led to a faster external mass transfer rate but a slower surface diffusion rate as estimated from the PFHSDM. The interaction between the organic moiety of surfactant and the AC surface chemistry such as surface oxygen content and surface charge contributes to the adsorption performance in both to the adsorption equilibrium and kinetics.