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The whole world is faced with a huge challenge of the shortage of clean water due to industrialization and the intimidation of climate change. Poor water quality distresses many areas of human's well-being. Although there are existing technologies for water treatments, many of these methods utilize toxic substances which create more problems into the environment. The preparation of bis(N-benzyl-salicydenaminato)zinc (II) complex and the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles via the thermal decomposition of zinc complex together with the fabrication of ZnO-chitosan nanocomposites for the removal of iron (II) ions from wastewater is reported. The optical properties of the synthesized nanoparticles showed band edges that are red-shifted in wavelengths when the decomposition temperature was increased. The XRD patterns displayed the hexagonal ZnO phase for the synthesized nanoparticles. TEM images revealed spherical-shaped particles which became agglomerated when the temperature was increased. The parameters such as pH, contact time, and initial concentration were investigated during the water treatment. The pH = 6 was found to be optimum, and the highest percentage removal was recovered after three hours for both adsorbents.