Preparation of porous supports in the SiO2-ZrO2-Na2O system was investigated using a commercially available silica gel as a starting material. The microspherical silica gel, impregnated with ZrOCl2 and NaCl, was heated and subsequently washed with water. Porous supports, composed with sponge-like skeletons on the surface of the particles, were obtained owing to suppression of crystallization of the supports as well as their sintering. Similar supports were formed using a silica gel prepared from sodium silicate solution by the same procedure. In contrast, crystallization of silica proceeded in supports prepared by heating the mixture of silica gel and NaCl in the absence of ZrOCl2. A new method for preparing the analogous supports was also investigated by heating a mixture of silica gel impregnated with ZrOCl2 and Na2CO3 powder.