A series of mesostructured Mn-MCM-41 composites were synthesized via a co-assembly route with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and manganese sulfate (MnSO4) as silica and manganese sources, respectively. And a model drug of cephanone was introduced via physical adsorption process into the channels of mesoporous silica, which could be used as the Mn-MCM-41 type mesoporous silica-based drug controlled-release delivery system. XRD, TEM, FT-IR, EDS and N2 adsorption-desorption were used to characterize the structural and textural properties of Mn-MCM-41 composites. The investigations showed that the addition of a small amount of manganese species was favorable for the long-range ordered structure of the mesoporous composites, whereas the ordered mesostructure was partially or completely distorted when the loaded manganese increased. The characterizations of cephanone loaded Mn-MCM-41 and in vitro release studies showed that the in vitro releases of cephanone in the ordered mesoporous materials follow an anomalous non-Fick's transport, and the impregnated manganese species had great influences on the release rate of cephanone from mesopores.