Effective removal of phosphate from water is essential for preventing the eutrophication and worsening of water quality. This study aims to enhance phosphate removal by synthesizing starch-stabilized ferromanganese binary oxide (FMBO-S), discover the factors, and investigate adsorption mechanisms. FMBO and FMBO-S properties were studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy, BET analysis, Polydispersity Index (PDI), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). After starch loading, the average pore diameter increased from 14.89 Å to 25.16 Å, and significantly increased the pore volume in the mesopore region. FMBO-S showed a PDI value below 0.5 indicating homogeneous size dispersity and demonstrated faster and higher adsorption capacity: 61.24 mg g−1 > 28.57 mg g−1. Both FMBO and FMBO-S adsorption data fit well with the pseudo-second-order and Freundlich models, indicating a chemisorption and multilayered adsorption process. The phosphate adsorption by FMBO was pH-dependent, suggesting electrostatic attraction as the dominant mechanism. For the FMBO-S, phosphate adsorption was favored in a wide pH range, despite the weaker electrostatic attraction as evident from the point of zero charge and zeta potential values, indicating ligand exchange as a main mechanism. Moreover, the XPS analysis shows a significant change in the proportion of Fe species for FMBO-S than FMBO after phosphate adsorption, indicating significant involvement of Fe. Meanwhile, phosphate adsorption was almost unaffected by the presence of Cl−, NO3−, and SO42− anions, whereas CO32− significantly reduced the adsorption capacity. This study revealed that FMBO-S could be a promising, low-cost adsorbent for phosphate removal and recovery from water.