Silicate adsorption in eight paddy soils developed from four different parent materials in Guangdong Province, China was examined to obtain fundamental knowledge of silicate adsorption to improve the efficacy of silicate fertilizer use in these areas. A correlation analysis showed that silicate adsorption did not obey the Langmuir equation (r = -0.664-0.301) but did obey the Freundlich and Temkin equations (P ≤ 0.01, r = 0.885-0.990). When the equilibrium silicate concentration (Ci) was less than 45 mg SiO2 kg-1, the adsorption capacity was in the following decreasing order of paddy soils: basalt-derived ＞ Pearl River Delta sediment-derived ＞ granite-derived ＞ sand-shale-derived. Stepwise regression and path analysis showed that for the investigated paddy soils amorphous MnO and Al2O3 were the two most important materials that affected silicate adsorption. Moreover, as Ci increased, amorphous Al2O3 tended to play a more important role in silicate adsorption, while the effects of amorphous MnO on silicate adsorption tended to decrease.