A novel and green route was developed to prepare lignin-modified silica nanoparticles from black liquor by an integrated utilization strategy of rice straw. The lignin in black liquor was used as a structure directing reagent to control the particles' size, CO2 obtained from the waste gas of pulp mills was used as a precipitating reagent and finally the lignin-modified silica nanoparticles were obtained. The effects of lignin concentration, pH and temperature on the properties of the materials have been investigated in detail, and the synthesis mechanism of the lignin-modified silica nanoparticles was proposed based on a series of experimental results. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.