Biocompatibility of solid surfaces has become an important concern for interfacing living neurons and designing their circuit geometries in vitro. In this paper, we report on the use of chemically and geometrically modified substrates for the growth of central nervous system neurons in culture. A glass coverslip modified with a monolayer film of either butyldimethylsilane (BDMS) or aminopropyldimethylsilane (APDMS) was adsorbed with an extracellular matrix protein, laminin. While a physicochemical property of the laminin adsorption was characterized by goniometry, ellipsometry, and fluorescent microscopy, the biocompatible function was examined by growing embryonic hippocampal neurons using a chemically defined culture system. The neurons grown on laminin-adsorbed APDMS surfaces developed a typical morphology of hippocampal neurons with multiple short-branched and single long-branched neurites, The use of BDMS films for laminin adsorption did not significantly affect the longest neuritic length but altered the morphological characteristics by reducing numbers of basal neurites and their branches. Such characteristics were highly dependent on the chemical features of monolayer films where laminin was adsorbed. We have used patterned APDMS monolayer films, fabricated through a microlithographic technique, to preferentially adsorb laminin and to demonstrate the feasible way of geometrically guiding central neurons in vitro.