Magnetic composites have a wide range of potential technological applications; however the evaluation of this material for extraction of phenolic compounds has not been sufficiently studied. Due to its high toxicity and solubility the removal of phenolic compounds from the aquatic environments has critical importance. In this work polymeric composites were prepared by anchoring Ni and Co particles on sulfonatedpoly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) PS-DVB. The PS-DVB beads were synthesized by suspension polymerization and reacted with acetyl sulfate, aiming to obtain sulfonated copolymers. All materials were capable of removing phenol from aqueous solutions. The phenol adsorption kinetics was influenced by the polymer porosity and swelling capacity in water. The composite derivative of the more porous copolymer impregnated with nickel (C1SNi) was the most efficient in phenol removal, with the sorption equilibrium being established more rapidly than for the other composites. The pseudo second-order model was more adequate to describe the phenol adsorption process for the composite C1SNi. The Langmuir model describes successfully the phenol removal by this composite.