Mesoporous silica FDU-12 with remarkable morphologies such as hexagonal prisms, spiral rodlike and brick-like, were successfully synthesized under low temperature and strong acidic conditions by introducing of different inorganic salts. The products were characterized by Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) patterns, UV vis diffuse reflectance Spectroscopy, N-2 adsorption-desorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser Raman spectra (Raman), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with pyridine adsorption (pyridine-FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that all the samples had high degrees of crystallinity, regular shape, large pore size and specific surface area, while the addition of different inorganic salts had a great influence on the morphology of FDU-12. Furthermore, the DBT HDS performances of FDU-12 supported NiMo hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts were also investigated. The hexagonal prism NiMo/F-HP catalyst had a higher sulfurization degree and more acid sites than other catalysts. The catalytic results indicated that the morphologies and acidities of FDU-12 materials played an essential role in the catalytic performance of DBT HDS over NiMo catalysts. Among the catalysts with different morphologies, the DBT HDS conversions followed the order: hexagonal prism catalyst (NiMo/F-HP) > spiral catalyst (NiMo/F-SP) > brick-like catalyst (NiMo/F-BL). The highest activity of NiMo/F-HP could be ascribed to the relatively higher acidity, higher sulfurization degree and the better dispersion of the active phases. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.