The increased and uncontrolled use of pharmaceuticals worldwide is becoming a significant environmental problem. Ibuprofen is among the most sold over-the-counter drugs in the world, which leads to an increase in its concentration in wastewater treatment plants. Due to the insufficient efficiency of conventional water treatment methods, it also appears in water bodies that are pumped for water supply. Due to the numerous physiological, hormonal and reproductive disorders it causes in aquatic organisms, there is a clear need to develop methods for more effective removal of ibuprofen from water. In this paper, the removal of ibuprofen from an aqueous solution with a concentration of ≈ 1 mg/L by sorption on natural zeolite clinoptilolite, its modified forms (sodium, iron and sulfur) and on fruit processing by-products - olive, cherry and sour cherry pits was examined. Only sour cherry pits showed effectiveness (30.15%) in ibuprofen removal from aqueous solution under the tested experimental conditions, with a capacity of 0.025 mg/g. The ineffectiveness of other sorbents is most likely the result of electrostatic repulsion of their extremely negative surface and deprotonated ibuprofen molecule at pH values during sorption. Future research should be focused towards materials modification with the aim of improving their sorption properties, but also to the adaptation of experimental conditions to the properties of the pollutant, in order to achieve more effective treatment. Efforts should be made to include pharmaceutical residues on the list of priority substances in water analysis, as there is still no legal regulation specifying the maximum allowable concentrations of pharmaceuticals in natural waters used for water supply. Ultimately, responsible disposal of pharmaceutical products is necessary to prevent long-term effects on the biodiversity of aquatic organisms, as well as the people who depend on these ecosystems.