Polyvinylbenzene (PVB, namely polystyrene, PSt) was grafted on the surface of silica gel particles by "grafting from'' in solution polymerization system, and grafting particles PVB/SiO2 were obtained. The chloromethylation reaction of the grafted polyvinylbenzene was performed using a novel chloromethylation reagent, 1,4-bis (chloromethyoxy) butane that is un-carcinogenic, and grafting particles CMPVB/SiO2 were obtained. Subsequently, chloromethyl groups on grafting particles CMPVB/SiO2 were hydrolyzed and oxidized, and finally adsorption material polyvinylbenzyl acid/SiO2 (PVBA/SiO2) was prepared. The adsorption performances and mechanism of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) on PVBA/SiO2 were investigated through static methods. The experimental results showed that PVBA/SiO2 possessed strong adsorption ability for TNT with adsorption amount of 26.84 mg g (1). The empirical Freundlich isotherm was also found to agree well with the equilibrium adsorption data. In addition, pH was found to have great in fluence on the adsorption amount. Finally, PVBA/SiO2 was observed to possess excellent reusability as well. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.