No relationship has been established between surface wettability and ice growth patterns, although ice often forms on top of solid surfaces. Here, we report experimental observations obtained using a process specially designed to avoid the influence of nucleation and describe the wettability-dependent ice morphology on solid surfaces under atmospheric conditions and the discovery of two growth modes of ice crystals: along-surface and off-surface growth modes. Using atomistic molecular dynamics simulation analysis, we show that these distinct ice growth phenomena are attributable to the presence (or absence) of bilayer ice on solid surfaces with different wettability; that is, the formation of bilayer ice on hydrophilic surface can dictate the along-surface growth mode due to the structural match between the bilayer hexagonal ice and the basal face of hexagonal ice (ice I_h), thereby promoting rapid growth of nonbasal faces along the hydrophilic surface. The dramatically different growth patterns of ice on solid surfaces are of crucial relevance to ice repellency surfaces. Significance Ice growth is essential to the final shape of ice crystals; therefore, it is of significant relevance to rich varieties of practical applications and fundamental research. A correlation between the surface wettability and ice growth has not been established, although ice often forms on solid surfaces. We discover experimentally that ice grows along surface when the contact angle of water drops on solid surfaces is below a critical value, and ice grows off surface when the contact angle is above this critical value. Our molecular dynamics simulation analysis reveals that the presence/absence of bilayer ice on solid surfaces of different surface wettabilities dictates the ice growth and therefore provides the molecular mechanism of ice growth on solid surfaces.