Mesoporous alumina was prepared by using starch as the structure-directing template in an aqueous system. The resultant samples were characterized by using different methods such as the X-ray diffractomctry, the transmission electron microscopy, the nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis and the solid MAS NMR. The results showed that the prepared mesoporous v-alumina had high surface area and uniform pore size distribution, and its specific surface area and the pore size could bc tuned by changing the pH value of the starting solution.