Wettability and penetration kinetics of liquid into porous material were studied by the capillary rise method. The mass gain of the penetrating liquid in a tube filled with glass beads was measured vs. time. Two types of glass beads surfaces: unmodified (smooth), modified (rough), were used to investigate the influence of porous material surface on wettability and penetration kinetics. It was found that the surface roughness has a significant effect on the penetration kinetics but not on the contact angle. The penetration rate of liquids into porous material with the rough surface was found to be over two-fold greater than that for porous materials with unmodified (smooth) surface. It is well known that the surface roughness has a significant effect on the macroscopic contact angle for flat surfaces. Our experiments showed that the contact angle of a collection of particles does not depend on their surface roughness. It may suggest that the surface roughness does not influence the microscopic contact angle.