Hydrogels with varying crosslinking ratio and ionic content were prepared by copolymerization of acrylamide (AM), sodium methallylsulfonate (MSAS), sodium acrylate (AA), and N,N’-methylenebisacrylamide (BisA) in aqueous solution using potassium persulfate (KPS)/N,N,N’,N’-tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA) as initiator. The influences of synthetic variables (reaction time, crosslinker concentration, monomer concentration, initiator concentration, temperature, and pH) on the polymerization conversion (y %) and water absorbency (Q) were studied in detail. These gels, which absorbed about 125 times their own weight in distilled water, have potential application as water superabsorbents.