Highly ordered mesoporous silica SBA-15 was synthesized and functionalized with Schiff-base groups on the surface to form immobilized bidentate ligands. The functionalized SBA-15 was complexed with palladium acetate, affording the immobilized palladium catalyst with a palladium loading of 0.49 mmol/g. The catalyst was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), nitrogen physisorption measurements, and elemental analysis (EA). The catalyst was used as an efficient catalyst for the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction of iodobenzene and phenylboronic acid under microwave irradiation. The reaction rate was dramatically enhanced compared with that of the reaction under conventional heating. It was also observed that the modified SBA-15 catalyst could be facilely separated from the reaction mixture by centrifugation, and could be reused in subsequent reactions without significant degradation in activity.