Poly(amidoamine) modified graphene oxide was prepared via a grafting-from method and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Evaluation of its adsorption capacity for heavy metal ions demonstrated that the poly(amidoamine) modified graphene oxide had superior adsorption ability towards heavy metal ions such as Cu2+, Zn2+, Fe3+, Pb2+ and Cr3+.