The feasibility of a novel type of surfactant-templated mesoporous silica particles as pigments in inkjet paper has been evaluated. The surfactant-templated mesoporous silica pigments with small pores and narrow pore size distribution were investigated, and compared to a typical silica gel with larger pores and broader size distribution. The surfactant-templated pigments required significantly lower amounts of binder and gave improvements in colour richness and sharpness, relative to the silica gel pigment.