The efficiency of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the removal of heavy metals from effluents was tested using one real and four synthetics nickel-containing effluents. The removal of metal ions from synthetic effluents was studied as a function of pH, interaction time, nickel concentration and temperature. Characterisation of biosorption equilibrium was evaluated employing the Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin models. The maximum sorption capacity of biomass for Ni(II) was 8.9 mg/g in Ni(II) system, 8.3 mg/g in Ni(II)–Cr(VI)–Fe(III), 11.9 mg/g in Ni(II)–Zn(II)–Sr(II)–Cu(II) and 7.3 in Ni(II)–Zn(II)–Cu(II)–Mo(VI) systems. The kinetics of the biosorption was described using pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, Elovich model and the intra-particle Weber and Morris diffusion models. According to the thermodynamic parameters the biosorption can be described as a spontaneous process. Fourier-transform infrared analysis was carried out to identify the role of functional groups on metal ions binding. To determine the main metal species present in the solution at different pH values, thermodynamic calculations were performed. The effect of pH and sorbent dosage on metal removal from real industrial effluent was investigated. The two-stage sequential scheme of Ni(II) removal from effluent by the addition of different dosage of new biomass sorbent was proposed.