The present invention is directed to a process for preparing an inorganic aerogel, the process comprising the steps of providing a composition (I) suitable to form an inorganic gel with a gelation time tG, spraying the composition (I) into supercritical carbon dioxide at a spraying time tS to obtain gel particles, and drying the gel particles obtained in step (ii) by supercritical liquid extraction, wherein the ratio tS:tG is in the range of from 0.2 to 0.99. The present invention further is directed to the inorganic aerogel as such as well as the use of the inorganic aerogel according to the invention in particular for medical and pharmaceutical applications or for thermal insulation.