Microwave technology was adopted for grafting of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) onto the surface of silica. Fluorescence microscopy, elemental analysis (EA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and titrimetry were used to characterize the structure and composition of the dendrimer-grafted silica surface. The results indicated that the number of amino groups and the percentage of nitrogen increased with increasing PAMAM generation, thus, the microwave assisted protocol was found to be effectively. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as a model biologic molecule to react with the dendrimer-grafted silica by chemical bonding through glutaraldehyde. The immobilization efficiency for BSA increased with increasing PAMAM generation. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.