Piperidine‐functionalized silica as a basic heterogeneous catalyst was synthesized via a simple protocol by condensing silica chloride with piperidine. The catalyst was characterized with various techniques (FT‐IR, solid state NMR, scanning electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray, thermogravimetric, elemental, and NH3 and CO2 temperature‐programmed desorption analyses). Surface area was also evaluated through Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis. Its catalytic activity was evaluated for Claisen–Schmidt condensation under solvent‐free conditions. The catalyst was easily recovered and reused up to five cycles without considerable loss of activity and was not deactivated due to amide formation. Also, this method has attractive advantages such as short reaction time, mild reaction conditions, good to excellent yield of products, easy handling of the catalyst and simple operational procedure. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.