A novel and dexterous in situ method is introduced to load US nanocrystals into SBA-15, which uses the acid-base reaction of mercaptoacetic acid with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, the modifier of internal surface of mesoporous materials to facilitate loading of sulfur precursor, followed by adsorption of Cd2+ and calcination at 300degreesC in N-2 atmosphere for 2 h. XRD, N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, HRTEM, EDS, FT-IR, UV-vis absorption spectrum and PL spectrum were used to characterize the composite material. It was found that the US nanocrystals were confined in the channel of SBA-15 with an average size of 6 nm. The mesoporous silica-supported US composites showed a room temperature photoluminescence property. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.