This paper reports an improved procedure for synthesis of silicon carbide nanopowders from silica by carbothermic reduction under fast microwave-induced heating. The powders have been prepared by direct solid-state reaction in a 2.45 GHz microwave field in nitrogen atmosphere after 40 h milling. For the first time, the formation of silicon carbide (beta-SiC) as a major phase can be achieved at 1200 degrees C in 5 min of microwave exposure, resulting in nano sized particles ranging from 10 to 40 nm under optimized synthesis condition. The Rietveld quantitative phase-composition analysis confirmed that the major SiC polytype is cubic SiC (beta-SiC) with 98.5(4) weight fraction and the remained is minor hexagonal SiC polytypic (alpha-SiC) phases. Therefore this method is the most efficient one for SiC powder synthesis in terms of energy and time saving as well as preparation of SiC nano powders.