In this framework, nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) adsorbents were formed using the solid-solid reaction method. The crystal structure and morphology of ZnO were investigated using the X-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The ZnO crystallized in the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure, while the average crystallite size and particle size were found equal to 22 ± 5 and 55 ± 10 nm, respectively. The adsorption efficiency of the ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) for removing an extreme quantity of potassium permanganate (KMnO4 ) in wastewater was investigated. The absorbance analysis was revealed that the adsorption of KMnO4 dye reached ~32% in 140 min using the ZnO adsorbent by applying the shaking method. The experimental results were tested by different kinetic models such as pseudo-first as well as pseudo-second-order, and intra-particle diffusion models. Besides, various models including the Boyd and Elovic models are applied to investigate the mechanisms of the removal of KMnO4 from the wastewater using the shaking method. The adsorption process is described well with the pseudo-second-order model for ZnO NPs compared to other applied models. The performance of using ZnO NPs for removing the KMnO4 from the wastewater using the shaking method was compared to other dyes and removal methods found in the literature.