A new carboxylated-functionalized sugarcane bagasse (STA) was prepared through the esterification of sugarcane bagasse with trimellitic anhydride. The optimized synthesis conditions yield STA with a percent weight gain of 73.9% and the number of carboxylic acid groups accounted for 3.78 mmol/g. STA was characterized by FTIR, elemental analysis, TGA, PZC, and SEM. Adsorption kinetics followed a pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption rate constant showed the following order: k2,Ni2+ > k2,Cu2+ > k2,Co2+. Four mono- and multi-component isotherm models were used to model the adsorption systems. Monocomponent experimental data were fitted to Langmuir and Sips models; whereas, multicomponent data were fitted to modified extended Langmuir and P-factor models. The maximum adsorption capacities (Qmax,mono) obtained from the Langmuir model were 1.140, 1.197, and 1.563 mmol/g for Co2+, Cu2+, and Ni2+, respectively. The competitive studies demonstrated that the multicomponent adsorption capacity (Qmax,multi) was smaller than Qmax,mono, as a result of the interaction between the metal ions. Desorption studies showed that all metal ions could be fully desorbed from STA.