► Superhydrophobic SiO2 paper was fabricated by a simple spray-coating method. ► The superhydrophobic SiO2 paper showed a high water contact angle of 162±1° and a low water sliding angle of 3±1°. ► The superhydrophobic SiO2 paper was found to be highly transparent. A simple technique for fabrication of superhydrophobic SiO2 paper was developed by spraying hydrophobic SiO2 nanoparticles suspension on paper substrate. The hydrophobic SiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by imparting octadecyltrichloro group on SiO2 nanoparticles. The as-prepared superhydrophobic SiO2 paper exhibted high water contact angle and low water sliding angle. Futhermore, the obtained superhydrophobic SiO2 paper was found to be highly transparent and the visibility of the character on the paper was not changed after spray-coating the hydrophobic SiO2 nanoparticles.