Silica-tin material has been synthesized by simple sol-gel method using rice husk ash as the source of silica and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as the surfactant at room temperature. Calcination of the material at 500 degrees C for 5 h gave nanotubes with external diameter of 2-4 nm and an internal diameter of 1-2 nm. The BET specific surface area was found to be 607 m(2) g(-1). Nitrogen sorption analysis exhibits a type IV isotherm with H3 hysteresis loop. The powder X-ray diffraction pattern showed that the material is amorphous. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared material was studied towards degradation of methylene blue under UV-irradiation. According to the experimental results the silica-tin nanotubes exhibit high photocatalytic activity compared to pure rice husk silica. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.