Clear listview content?

Simply write

listView.setAdapter(null);

I guess you passed a List or an Array to the Adapter. If you keep the instance of this added collection, you can do a

collection.clear();
listview.getAdapter().notifyDataSetChanged();

this'll work only if you instantiated the adapter with collection and it's the same instance.

Also, depending on the Adapter you extended, you may not be able to do this. SimpleAdapter is used for static data, thus it can't be updated after creation.

PS. not all Adapters have a clear() method. ArrayAdapter does, but ListAdapter or SimpleAdapter don't