Silica-pillared clays with mesopore were prepared from montmorillonite, aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The concentration of PVA was important in this synthesis and effective on the porosity of the obtained silica-pillared clays. The pore properties and structures of the pillared clays were investigated. Based on X-ray diffraction measurements, the basal spacings of the silica-pillared clays increased from 3.5 to 5.3 nm with the increase PVA concentration. As with the basal spacings, the peaks of the pore size distribution and the average pore diameter shifted up to approximately 4nm. As the concentration of PVA increased, the mesopore areas and pore volumes tended to increase, and the BET surface areas trended to decrease. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.