Abstract: Silica aerogel is a kind of nano porous solid material which possesses high porosity and specific surface area， providing silica aerogel with high absorptive performance． The hydrophobic silica aerogel prepared by ambient pressure drying with low preparation cost could be used in damp environment and aqueous solutions，having a broad market prospect in the field of adsorption of organic compounds in aqueous solution． The ambient preparation technology and research progress of the hydrophobic silica aerogel was analyzed in this paper． The research progress of hydrophobic silica aerogel as adsorbent for organic compounds from aqueous solutions was introduced emphatically． Last，hydrophobic silica aerogel for adsorbing organic compounds from aqueous solutions was forecasted．