In most tropical countries where sugarcane is grown at a commercial scale, there are substantial quantities of sugarcane bagasse ash rich in amorphous silica. A simple, low-cost chemical method for the extraction of pure silica from the boiler collected ash is of importance. In this study, sol-gel coupled with adsorption using activated carbon was used to extract high-purity amorphous silica from sugarcane bagasse ash. Physicochemical characteristics of the extracted silica samples were checked using X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen (N-2) adsorption-desorption method, scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscopy. Most metal impurities that include iron, manganese, magnesium, calcium, potassium, titanium and chromium were adsorbed by the activated carbon due to its large specific surface area of 1308 m(2)/g, which enhances the physical adsorption of dissolved or dispersed substances from the solution. Amorphous nano-silica of 98.92% purity and particle size range of 6-24 nm was obtained. From the N-2 adsorption-desorption analysis, the silica powder showed the following properties 240 m(2)/g for specific surface area, 0.58 cm(3)/g average pore volume and 10 nm for average pore diameter.