In this paper, a facile and effective route has been developed for rapid synthesis of hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) by using tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) as the porogen with the assistance of triethanolamine (TEA). The products were characterized by various techniques including TEM, SEM, BET, and FT-IR, etc. The HMSNs obtained possess spherical morphology, mesoporous channels and very high specific surface areas (1355 m(2) g(-1)). According to the experimental results, a possible formation mechanism was discussed. Moreover, the ability of HMSNs as drug carrier was evaluated by selecting doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) as the model drug. The results indicated that HMSNs showed high loading capacity and controlled pH-responsive release behavior. Considering their unique nanostructures and porous properties, we expect the HMSNs prepared have more potential applications in various fields such as nanoreactors, cellular imaging, and biosensor. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.