A facile synthesis route for directly preparing Ni-based mesoporous carbon/silica composite catalysts without further reduction was synthesized successfully. The synthesis procedure was achieved by using the one-step solid liquid grinding method with a mixture of SiO2, soybean oil, and nickel acetyl acetonate. Calcination was then performed with different temperatures to obtain the Ni-based mesoporous carbon/silica composite catalyst. All experimental steps were conducted without solvent addition. In this catalyst structure, soybean was used as the carbon source and provided a large surface area within the silica skeleton; Ni-0 was used as the active metal. The active component Ni-0 was formed directly during the soybean oil carbonization process. A series of Ni/SiO2-C-X catalysts (X = 400-1100, X stands for the carbonization temperature) were applied for the CO2 reforming of CH4 reaction. The unreduced Ni-based catalyst showed a better catalytic activity than that of the reduced catalyst under hydrogen atmosphere because the Ni-0 phase was in-situ reduced by the carbonized soybean under nitrogen. The Ni/SiO2-C-500 catalyst showed stable activity and high reaction activity in the continuous CO2 reforming reaction of CH4 at atmospheric pressure. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.