<p>Mesoporous tin oxide (m-SnO₂) was synthesized employing three different synthetic approaches namely, hard template, soft template and template-free hydrothermal route. KIT-6 was employed as the hard template, CTAB as the soft template and urea-assisted hydrothermal synthesis was employed in template-free route to obtain m-SnO₂. X-ray diffraction validated that tetragonal rutile phase of m-SnO₂ was formed in all the routes. The molecular bond structures of m-SnO₂ were studied using FTIR. Nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms demonstrated high surface area of the formed m-SnO₂. FESEM analysis verified the porous morphology of the synthesized m-SnO₂ samples. TEM analysis revealed the shape and size of the synthesized m-SnO₂ samples. All the routes yielded spherical SnO₂ particles. Steps explaining the formation of m-SnO₂ by all the three strategies are discussed in detail. The study evaluates the impact of using hard template (KIT-6), soft template (CTAB) and urea-assisted template-free strategy on the structural parameters namely surface area, pore diameter, pore volume and the grain size of m-SnO₂ particles. Large surface area and presence of mesopores makes synthesized m-SnO₂ a good candidate for several industrial applications particularly for gas sensing, drug delivery and catalysis.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>