A controllable acid-base bifunctionalized mesoporous catalyst with acidic sites and basic sites in adjacent arrangements was prepared via an in situ cleavage of sulfonamide bond on synthetic process. During Knoevenagel condensation reaction of aromatic aldehydes and ethyl cyanoacetate under microwave irradiation in solid media, the mesoporous bifunctionalized catalyst Me-A/B-SBA-15 exhibited higher catalytic activity than those of the corresponding amine-functionalized catalyst and the randomly-arranged acid-base catalyst, showing obvious acid-base cooperativity. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.