The paper deals with soling technologies in civil engineering and environmental protection. The object of the interest is silica sol coating, which is formed when a concrete article gets hard in silica sol solution, as well as the sediments of silica sol soil detoxification. The main aim of the research is physical and chemical specificities of soling process. The methods of the study are electronic microscope scanning, x-ray analysis, derivatographic and chemical analysis. It has been found that in silica sol technology, layers of new phases are formed on the surface of cement concrete articles, e.g. calcium hydrates. The depth of the layers has been established. The nature of silica gel after heavy metal soil detoxification has been determined. The prospects of new sol-gel technologies are discussed.