Adsorption of catechol from aqueous solution with the hypercrosslinked polymeric adsorbent NDA-100 and its derivatives AH-1, AH-2 and AH-3 aminated by dimethylamine, the commercial resin Amberlite XAD-4 and weakly basic anion exchanger resin D301 was compared. It was found that the aminated hypercrosslinked resins had the highest adsorption capacities among the tested polymers. The empirical Freundlich equation was successfully employed to describe the adsorption process. Specific surface area and micropore structure of the adsorbent, in company with tertiary amino groups on matrix affected the adsorption performance towards catechol. In addition, thermodynamic study was carried out to interpret the adsorption mechanism. Kinetic study testified that the tertiary amino groups on the polymer matrix could decrease the adsorption rate and increase the adsorption apparent activation energy.