As a novel adsorbent for boron removal from the aqueous solution, silica-supported N-methyl-D-glucamine adsorbent (Si-MG) was synthesized by anchoring the N-methyl-D-glucamine modified (3-glycidoxypropyl) trimethoxysilane to the silica surface. The surface of the adsorbent was characterized by FT-IR. XPS, SEM and elemental analysis, which indicated that the modification of the silica surface was successfully performed. The characteristics of the adsorption process were also evaluated by using the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms, and the maximum adsorption capacity of Si-MG was found to be 1.54 mmol g(-1) The adsorption equilibrium could be obtained within 30 min and the experimental data were well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. It was therefore concluded that the adsorbent of Si-MG could be promising for boron removal from salt lake brine. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.