Abstract: Dissolved silica is ubiquitous in impaired waters, a fouling agent in desalination membranes, resistant to existing antiscalants, and difficult to remove from power plant feed waters, thereby inhibiting long term reuse of industrial water. According to the present invention, an inorganic anion exchanger, hydrotalcite (HTC), can provide highly selective removal of silica from aqueous solutions. Calcined HTC effectively removes silicate anion from different waste waters and waters with high concentration of competing ions, such as SO42? and Cl?. For example, calcined Mg6Al2(OH)16(CO3).4H2O has a silica adsorption capacity of 45 mg SiO2/g HTC. Further, HTC can be easily regenerated and recycled.