A novel composite material for prednisone molecular capture (PS-MC) was prepared by surface imprinting technique in combination with a polyethylene filter plate coated with multi-walled carbon nanotubes for the first time. PS-MC was achieved by using prednisone as the template molecule, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane as the monomer, and tetraethoxysilane as the cross-linker. The structure, morphology, and thermal stability of the prepared PS-MC were studied by fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. PS-MC was assessed by re-binding experiments such as adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms, molecular identification, and applied to the separation and enrichment of prednisone in cosmetics. The results indicated that PS-MC has rapid binding kinetic, high adsorption capacity, and favorable reusability. The imprinted materials were coupled with HPLC to selectively separation, purification, and detection of prednisone from spiked cosmetic samples. The recoveries of spiked cosmetic samples were in the range of 83.0-106.0%, with relative standard deviations of less than 2.10%, and the limit of detection of 5 ng/mL (S/N = 3). (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.