Water pollution faces significant challenges, particularly in urban and industrial settings, necessitating cost-effective and sustainable treatment methods. Adsorption using natural materials like clay has gained attention for its simplicity and efficacy in removing such pollutants. This study evaluates the adsorption efficiency of sand-based clay for removing caffeine, methylparaben, and trichlorocarbanilide (TCC) from wastewater (WW), river water (RW), (from klodnica river, Gliwice), and distilled water (DW) over 96 hours using UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Absorbance measurements revealed DW’s superior removal efficiencies (caffeine: 81.92–84.21%, methylparaben: 80.19–85.94%, TCC: 79.46–87.63% at 96 hours), followed by RW (caffeine: 57.67–75.19%, methylparaben: 73.27–76.34%, TCC: 64.92–84.43%) and WW (caffeine: 49.40–63.46%, methylparaben: 65.05–67.88%, TCC: 73.38–75.95%). Caffeine removal peaked at pH 7.12 in RW and DW, but pH 5.0 in WW; methylparaben showed optimal removal at pH 5.0 in DW and RW, and pH 9.0 in WW; TCC adsorption was highest at pH 9.0 across all media. A critical adsorption phase occurred between 48–72 hours. These findings highlight sand-based clay’s potential and its limitations as a cost-effective, sustainable adsorbent with performance varying by media and pH, informing advanced water treatment strategies. The results inform the development of clay-based filtration systems for municipal and industrial water treatment, offering scalable solutions for emerging contaminant removal. Further research is needed to optimize clay modifications and assess long-term performance in complex water matrices.