Phenol and cresol (o-, m-, and p-) were selected as the adsorbates with different dipole moment (cresol>phenol, methyl being electron-drawing group) and solubility (phenol>cresol, methyl being hydrophobic group). Macropore polymers (NDA-1800 and XAD-4), hypercrosslinked polymers (NDA-100), and chemically modified adsorbents (NDA-150 and NDA-99), were comparatively used to investigate the adsorption properties including equilibria, thermodynamics and kinetics. First, all of the results about equilibria show that the adsorption data fit well to the Freundlich model. The adsorption capacity of NDA-99 and NDA-150 especially for phenol is larger in a certain extent than other three types of polymers. The hydrophobic interaction from large specific surface was mainly occurred, while the polar groups containing oxygen and amine markedly enhance the adsorption process via hydrogen interaction. Furthermore, the adsorption amount for NDA-99 and XAD-4 decrease linearly with the solubility of solutes tested. Then, the negative values of enthalpy demonstrate the predominantly exothermic and physical solid-extraction processes. Finally, the relatively more rapid adsorption process could be found onto NDA-150 than NDA-99, with the reason of the double larger pore size of the former. In conclusion, solubility of solute, together with surface area, pore size and modified groups, extremely exerts influences to the adsorption performances.