A SBA-15 mesoporous silica has been chemically modified with 5-mercapto-1-methyltetrazole. The newly synthesized material (MTTZ-SBA-15) has been characterized, by powder X-ray diffraction, N₂ adsorption, FT-IR, ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis, and used to preconcentrate Zn(II) in water samples. The effect of some variables on the adsorption capacity has been studied using the column techniques. The adsorption capacity of the prepared material followed the order: Zn≫Cu>Cd≫Mn, and under optimized conditions the maximum adsorption value for Zn(II) was 0.96±0.01mmol/g with the adsorption efficiency of 0.76. In column experiments, adsorption was quantitative for 1000mL of 7.65×10⁻⁴mM of Zn(II) solution and adsorbed ions were eluted out by 5mL of 1M HCl (preconcentration factor of 200). Spiked tap water and mineral water were used for the preconcentration and determination of Zn(II) by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS), and a 102±2 and 98±3% recoveries were obtained. The LOD and LOQ values of the proposed method were found to be 8.0×10⁻⁶ and 1.23×10⁻⁵mM, respectively. The relative standard deviation for four preconcentration experiments was found to be ≤4% in all cases.