Though industrialization contributes to the economic growth of any country, its negative impacts on the environment are the biggest concern to deal with. The effluents from these industries contaminate water bodies that can have serious effects on the health of living organisms as they are a primary source of survival. Wastewater from industries like paint, batteries, tannery, and dyeing industries possess high concentrations of heavy metals, which are released into the water bodies. In order to remove these contaminants, many researchers employed different techniques such as adsorption, ion exchange, and electrochemical methods, but confined to the laboratory scales due to their complexity and expensiveness. To address the same bioremediation is necessary, and is reported to be cost-effective and can attain better efficiency. In the current study, a blend of citrus fruit peels and banana peels along with a minor quantity of sawdust is used as a bio-material for removal of heavy metals from paint industry effluent. Further, the collected samples were subjected to different experimental investigations to decline the quantities of heavy metals by employing different proportions of bio-materials. From the test results, it was observed that the concentration of cadmium, chromium, copper, and lead is receded to 60–68% with an optimum contents of 50:50 (i.e. Banana peels: Orange peels) and 45:45:10 (Banana peels: Orange peels: Sawdust). The study demonstrates a sustainable and economical approach for reducing heavy metal contamination, with promising potential for extension to field-scale applications.