To provide an adsorbent that has high affinity with the soil environment and can remove high concentrations of humic substance with a high removal rate in a short time, and a method using the same.SOLUTION: A humic substance adsorbent contains a Ca-Al layered double hydroxide represented by a chemical composition formula (1): [CaAl(OH)](A) 3HO (1), where A denotes Cl, OH, CO, or NO, with Ca:Al=2:1-4:1.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 11