Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) loaded ammonium exchanged mordenite (NH(4)M20) were found to be an efficient inorganic matrix (AgNPs-NH(4)M20) to detect short n-alkanes, which are hardly ionized in conventional MALDI mass spectrometry. Silver ion adduct with alkanes, including n-heptadecane (C17H34), n-nonadecane (C19H40), n-tricosane (C23H48), n-tetracosane (C24H50), n-heptacosane (C27H56), allowing the analysis of short-chain n-alkanes by MALDI-TOF-MS. Zeolite as the supporter can enhance the peak intensity of Ag+ adducted n-alkanes by utilizing laser energy efficiently. The character of zeolite in AgNPs-NH(4)M20 matrix and the way of formation of Ag+ adducted n-alkanes were also discussed and studied by using the quantum chemical calculation. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.