Mesoporous carbon materials are a kind of porous carbon materials with pore diameter between 2 nm and 50 nm. Ordered mesoporous carbon materials possess structural features such as high specific surface area, regular pore structure, narrow pore size distribution, controllable pore size and modifiable surface and performance characteristics such as high mechanical strength, strong adsorption ability and chemical inertness. These special structure and properties have made ordered mesoporous carbon widely used in many fields, especially as a new adsorbent in water treatment, which is a notable application direction with ecological and social value. Hard templating method and soft templating method are the main way to prepare ordered mesoporous carbon, and the selection of template and carbon precursor is crucial to the control of structure and properties. In this paper, the preparation methods of ordered mesoporous carbon, hierarchical ordered microporous/mesoporous carbon and hierarchical ordered macroporous/mesoporous carbon are reviewed from the perspectives of different templates such as ordered mesoporous silica, natural minerals, metal organic frameworks and block copolymers. Applications of ordered mesoporous carbon in water treatment are introduced including the removal efficiency, removal mechanism and modification effectiveness of ordered mesoporous carbon to heavy metal ion and organic pollutant.