A high concentration silica slurry can be used for polishing of substrates, such as semiconductor materials. The slurry contains a silica powder dispersed in an solvent. The silica slurry has a silica concentration of more than 50% by weight and a viscosity of less than 1000 mPas, wherein the silica powder has a ratio DL/DT of less than 1.3, wherein DL is an average particle size of the silica powder measured by a laser diffraction particle size distribution method and DT is an average primary particle size of the silica powder measured by a TEM photography observation, and wherein the silica powder has an average primary particle size of from 0.08 .mu.m to 0.8 .mu.m.