Oxidized activated carbons were prepared by reacting steam-activated carbon developed from pecan shells with nitric acid of varying strength (15, 30, 45 and 60%). The textural properties and the chemistry of the surface of the non-oxidized and of the oxidized carbons were determined from nitrogen adsorption and base neutralization capacities. The uptake of Pb(II) and Cd(II) from aqueous solution by these carbons was determined by kinetic and equilibrium experiments as well as by the column method. Treatment with nitric acid brought about drastic decrease in surface area and remarkable increase in the pore size of the carbon with these changes depending on the strength of nitric acid. Nitric acid increased the surface acidity by developing new surface oxygen functional groups of acidic nature. HNO3-oxidized carbons exhibited high adsorption capacities for Pb(II) and Cd(II). The adsorption of these ions increased with the decrease of the surface pH of the carbon and with the increase of the solution pH from 2.5 to 6 and 7. The amount adsorbed from lead and cadmium was also related to the amount of surface acidity, the pH of the point of zero charge and on some metal ion parameters. Cadmium and lead uptake by the investigated carbons followed pseudo-second order model and the equilibrium sorption data fitted Langmuir adsorption model.