A very common adsorbent used in column chromatography is

Stationary phase- Adsorbent → E.g: Alumina, SilicaMobile phase [moving phase] → solvent (or) mixture of solvents →eluent              The (adsorbate) components of the mixture move up along with eluent (solvent) to different extents depending upon the polarity of constituents (attractions between the constituents and stationary phase).