Zeolite Y was successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method using bauxite tailings as starting materials to effectively remove Pb(II) from wastewater. It was shown that pure zeolite Y with typical octahedral microstructure was obtained when n(SiO2/Al2O3) was 7, n(H2O/Na2O) was 35, hydrothermal at 100 °C for 10 h. The results of N2 adsorption–desorption showed that the prepared samples possessed relatively high BET surface areas of 875 m2/g. The adsorption capacity of Pb(II) by the zeolite Y in aqueous solutions reached 443.87 mg/g, and the maximum removal efficiency was 99.95%. In addition, after five circulating adsorptions, the removal efficiency of Pb(II) was maintained as high as 99.2%, indicating that zeolite Y had excellent reusability. The selective adsorption results of Pb2+–K+–Cd2+ ternary system solution revealed that when the concentration ratio was 1:1:1, the removal efficiency of Pb(II) was 5.5 times of Cd(II), and K(I) was almost not adsorbed. The high adsorption capacity and excellent selective adsorption of Pb(II) indicated that the zeolite Y could be a suitable absorbent for lead removal, moreover, this work explored a new way to improve the utilization of bauxite tailings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]