SILICATE mesoporous materials have received widespread interest  …..because of their potential applications. These novel materials, prepared either by soft- or hard-templating syntheses, become more and more important in many fields of science and technology such as adsorption, catalysis, separations, environmental processes, nanotechnology and biotechnology. According to IUPAC definition inorganic solids that contain pores with diameter in the size range of 2-50 nm are considered mesoporous materials, They also possess extremely high surface areas (>700 m² g⁻¹) and narrow pore size distributions. This article review shows the current state of art and outlines the recent patents in mesoporous materials research in three general areas: synthesis, various mechanisms involved for porous structure formation and applications of mesoporous materials based on silica and alumina.