Two novel types of thiol-based chelating resins were fabricated by modifying poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-glycerol dimethacrylate) (P(HEMA-GDMA)) and poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) (P(HEMA-EGDMA)) with (3-mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane(MPS), and used to adsorb lead(II) from aqueous solution. The effects of initial lead(II) concentrations, solution pH, coexisting ions on adsorption of lead(II) were investigated. After modifying, the product P(HEMA-GDMA)-SH has excellent adsorption capacity (118.56 mg/g) for lead(II) at initial lead(II) concentration of 200 mg/L. The resins could easily be regenerated and were reused 6 times without significant loss of adsorption capacity. Besides, the presence of coexisting ions did not markedly influence the adsorption capacities of the resins. The results indicate that the functional thiol-based resins are efficient adsorbents for the removal of toxic lead(II) ions in water treatment.