Strontium titanate (SrTiO3) nanocube-dispersed mesoporous silica was prepared. Oleate-modified SrTiO3. nanocubes with diameter of ca. 10 nm were synthesized by a hydrothermal process. The nanocubes were embedded into mesoporous silica, aided by the high affinity of surface oleyl groups with surfactants employed as templates of the mesoporous silica. Nanocubes within the nanocomposite maintained their shape and size without fusion or sintering, even after calcination at 1073 K. Oleate groups on the surface of SrTiO3 nanocubes burned out together with CTAB during the calcination process. Nitrogen adsorption behavior of the nanocomposites was comparable to that of conventional mesoporous silica. The nanocomposite exhibited high photocatalytic activity in the decomposition of methylene blue because of the combination of preferential molecular adsorption by mesoporous silica and photocatalysis by SrTiO3. The methylene blue decomposition rate by the nanocomposite was larger than that of the composite prepared with conventional SrTiO3. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.