Tubular porous ceramic substrates based on crystalline SiO2 were successfully functionalized with amino and mercapto functions using the one-step sol-gel approach. The samples were analyzed by SEM, FT-IR spectroscopy, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption-desorption to reveal their structure and composition. It was shown, that the functional layers of such materials contain silica nanoparticles with amino and mercapto groups, and their porosity can be varied regarding the nature of the structuring agent. All the amino-functionalized membranes showed 95% retention of Ni(II) ions from aqueous solution for 2 h of filtration in the filtration unit (at room temperature). Whereas, maximum retention by mercapto-functionalized membranes was 30% of Pb(II) ions. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.