An interesting nickel-based catalyst supported on DABCO-functionalized silica was successfully prepared and evaluated as heterogeneous nanocatalyst in Heck cross coupling reaction of various aryl halides and methyl acrylate. The as-prepared nanocatalyst was well characterized by FT-IR, FE-SEM, TEM, XRD, SEM-EDX, ICP and TGA techniques and found to be highly efficient in the reaction system in terms of activity and recyclability. This work provides an economical and heterogeneous catalytic system based nickel nanoparticle supported on DABCO functionalized silica for the Heck cross-coupling reaction of various aryl halides with methyl acrylate. [GRAPHICS]