This study explores technological advances and prospects in phenol wastewater treatment through a detailed bibliometric survey of wastewater treatment applications, highlighting innovative research. Using the Web of Science database, 79,104 articles from 2003 to 2023 were analyzed, refined to 1848. Keywords such as "phenol", "wastewater", "degradation", "treatment", and "removal" were used to identify trends and research areas. The field of "Engineering" accounted for 32% of the articles, followed by "Ecology of Environmental Sciences" (25%) and "Chemistry" (12%). A keyword analysis revealed five major clusters indicating research progress. Future research should prioritize wastewater treatment and feedstock diversification to address challenges like production costs, stability, and durability of treatment processes. Phenolic compounds are present in wastewater from various industries, including coking, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and petroleum refining. Industrial wastewater contains multiple organic products, such as phenol, PCBs, cyanide, and heavy metals, which can adversely affect aquatic life and water safety. Conventional water treatment methods often struggle to effectively remove these pollutants, leading to interest in alternative and sustainable approaches. Methods for phenol removal include membrane separation, biodegradation, electrochemical oxidation, direct osmosis, coal-based electrodes, ion exchange, anaerobic membrane, aerobic biodegradation, photocatalytic degradation, and adsorption. Adsorption is emerging as a promising solution due to its efficiency, cost-benefit ratio, and simplified operational features. The study analyzed the distribution of publications and citations over 20 years, showing a steady increase in annual publications with significant growth in the following three years. However, there were slight decreases in publications in 2007, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2022, and 2023. The period from 2018 to 2021 saw a significant increase in scientific production, with 2021 being the peak year with 188 annual publications and over 10,000 citations. Research on wastewater treatment has become a central focus, generating enthusiasm among scientists. The study identified the ten most cited authors, journals, countries, and institutions, highlighting the concentration of citations in a select group of authors. The most cited authors included Dionysios D. Dionysiou, K. Palanivelu, and Nihar Biswas. The most productive authors were Minghua Zhou and Hongjun Han. The study also analyzed the leading journals, showing that the Journal of Hazardous Materials had the highest number of citations. The analysis of countries showed that China was the leading country in publications and citations, followed by India and Iran. The study identified the most cited articles, including aThis study explores technological advances and prospects in phenol wastewater treatment through a detailed bibliometric survey of wastewater treatment applications, highlighting innovative research. Using the Web of Science database, 79,104 articles from 2003 to 2023 were analyzed, refined to 1848. Keywords such as "phenol", "wastewater", "degradation", "treatment", and "removal" were used to identify trends and research areas. The field of "Engineering" accounted for 32% of the articles, followed by "Ecology of Environmental Sciences" (25%) and "Chemistry" (12%). A keyword analysis revealed five major clusters indicating research progress. Future research should prioritize wastewater treatment and feedstock diversification to address challenges like production costs, stability, and durability of treatment processes. Phenolic compounds are present in wastewater from various industries, including coking, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and petroleum refining. Industrial wastewater contains multiple organic products, such as phenol, PCBs, cyanide, and heavy metals, which can adversely affect aquatic life and water safety. Conventional water treatment methods often struggle to effectively remove these pollutants, leading to interest in alternative and sustainable approaches. Methods for phenol removal include membrane separation, biodegradation, electrochemical oxidation, direct osmosis, coal-based electrodes, ion exchange, anaerobic membrane, aerobic biodegradation, photocatalytic degradation, and adsorption. Adsorption is emerging as a promising solution due to its efficiency, cost-benefit ratio, and simplified operational features. The study analyzed the distribution of publications and citations over 20 years, showing a steady increase in annual publications with significant growth in the following three years. However, there were slight decreases in publications in 2007, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2022, and 2023. The period from 2018 to 2021 saw a significant increase in scientific production, with 2021 being the peak year with 188 annual publications and over 10,000 citations. Research on wastewater treatment has become a central focus, generating enthusiasm among scientists. The study identified the ten most cited authors, journals, countries, and institutions, highlighting the concentration of citations in a select group of authors. The most cited authors included Dionysios D. Dionysiou, K. Palanivelu, and Nihar Biswas. The most productive authors were Minghua Zhou and Hongjun Han. The study also analyzed the leading journals, showing that the Journal of Hazardous Materials had the highest number of citations. The analysis of countries showed that China was the leading country in publications and citations, followed by India and Iran. The study identified the most cited articles, including a