Surfactant adsorption in porous media is one of the major criteria which decide the economic viability of surfactant flooding in chemical enhance oil recovery applications (CEOR). In this study, the static adsorption of a novel in-house synthesized anionic surfactant was investigated onto crushed Berea sandstone. The point of zero (PZC) charge for Berea sandstone and critical micelle concentration (CMC) of anionic surfactant are also reported in this paper. The investigated PZC for Berea core was at pH 8.0 and the maximum adsorption of anionic surfactant was 0.96 mg/g. Furthermore, the effects of alkali, salinity and temperature on static adsorption of anionic surfactant were investigated at variable conditions. It was concluded that the anionic surfactant performs better at higher pH, higher temperature and lower salt concentration. An effective control of all these parameters can lead to the situation which helps in minimizing the surfactant loss and improved economic efficiency of CEOR process. © 2013 The Author(s).