A review of production and properties of silica produced from rice husk is carried out with assessment of processing and manufacturing methods and suggestion of new research directions with respect to the processing methods. It was revealed that the structural nature of the silica produced from rice husk is independent of the purification methods but largely dependent on the incineration temperature used in the production process. Also, it was established that without pre-treatment, incineration of rice husk results in the production of silica of low purity, surface area and whiteness. The paper concludes by advocating the use of a novel process called hydro thermo-baric process, for producing high-purity reactive nano-silica from rice husk. This novel process, has the advantages of high volume production, versatility of application of its product through varying any of its process parameters and being environmentally benign compared to other processes. © 2012 by Maejo University, San Sai, Chiang Mai, 50290 Thailand.