In order to develop a novel method for the detection of nitrocellulose (NC), an electrochemical sensor based on silica surface molecularly imprinted polymers (SiO2/MIPs) modified electrode was prepared to detect NC. In addition, SiO2 non-imprinted polymers-based (SiO2/NIPs) sensor was prepared as a control. The response characteristic of SiO2/MIPs-based sensor to NC was studied with [Fe(CN)(6)](3-/4-) as a probe molecule. The SiO2/MIPs-based sensor have an optimized current responsiveness to NC when it was prepared at temperature of 50 degrees C and 1: 3 proportion of methacrylic acid to ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate. The current response of SiO2/MIPs-based sensor is the most significant under the NC solution of 4.0 mg mL(-1), incubation period of 1 min and [Fe(CN)(6)](3-/4-) electrolyte of 5 mM. The SiO2/MIPs-based sensor had the greatest response capacity for NC among the several analogues, which indicates that the SiO2/MIPs-based sensor has a good specificity to NC. Furthermore, the SiO2/MIPs-based sensor exhibited an excellent reproducibility in repeated measurements. Results show the prepared SiO2/MIPs-based sensor can be a potential candidate for the detection of NC in the security checking and hazard control.