The adsorption process of rare earth elements on the surface of aluminum (hydrogen) oxide minerals has an important impact on the enrichment of rare earth elements in bauxite and the extraction recovery of rare earth elements in the adsorbed state. In this research, boehmite was selected as the model mineral, and La and Y were chosen as the representatives of light and heavy rare earth elements, respectively. The effects of adsorption time, solution pH value and background electrolyte concentration on the adsorption of rare earth ions on boehmite were investigated by batch experiments. The results show that the adsorption of rare earth cations by boehmite approaches equilibrium within 72 h, and the adsorption rates of La3+and Y3+ are about 45% and 35%, respectively. In the selected pH value range, the adsorption rate and the background electrolyte concentration rise with the increase of pH value. Due to the protonation effect, the surface of boehmite possesses positive charges under weakly acidic conditions, and electrostatic repulsion occurs between rare earth cations and the surface. So it can be speculated that inner-sphere complexes may be formed between rare earth elements and the surface of boehmite. Compared with heavy rare earth cations, boehmite is more likely to uptake light rare earth cations. The adsorption behavior of rare earth elements by boehmite is fitted better by Langmuir monolayer adsorption model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model.