The impact of major surface chemical properties of silica sols on the retention and drainage performance of the silica based micrparticle system, Compozil was investigated using four different silica sols. And the effect of silica properties on the interactions with cationic starch and cationic plyacrylamide has also been identified. The surface charge density and the stability over pH of silica sols were increased by introducing aluminosilicate anions at surface. It was found that the charge density of silica sols determined the addition level necessary to attain the maximum retention and drainage. When silica sols were combined with cationic starch, the change density of the product was the critical properties and the degree of microagregation was of minor importance. In the cationic polyacrylamide system the degree of colloid structure appeared to be a more critcial property than the charge density of silica sols.