In this paper the authors studied the sorption of heavy metal ions Pb2+, Cu2+, Cd2+ on goethite as a case study of the mineral-water interface reaction. The prerequisite for the multi-reaction of heavy metal ions distributed on the mineral-water interface mainly depends on the hydrolyzation of the ad sorbates and the electric charge of the sorbent. Thus the pH value becomes a key factor affecting the reaction of mineral-water interface. Under different pH conditions, the electric charges of the mineral surface varied when the ≡FeOH protonated or deprotonated and meanwhile, the metallic hydrolysis could greatly develop t he formation of metal hydroxocomplexes and change the mineral-water interface re action. Under the condition of this study, metal affinity for the goethite surface was examined as a function of pH. Typical S-shaped adsorption edges could be observed for all metals; with the increasing pH, adsorption increased from zero to almost 100% over a narrow pH range. The metal capacity followed the trend of Cu＞Pb＞Cd. The heavy metal ions sorption isotherms could be fitted well by Langmuir and Freundlich equations with correlation coefficients R＞0.91. The constants of Freundlich equations (n values) are between 0.1 and 0.5, indicating that the surface complexes are very complicated but not monodentate. The change of constant KM also indicates the existence of a variety of surface complexes on goethite surface with the increasing of the pH value.