Mantel's theorem is a classical result in extremal graph theory which implies that the maximum number of edges of a triangle-free graph of order $n$. In 1970, E. Nosal obtained a spectral version of Mantel's theorem which gave the maximum spectral radius of a triangle-free graph of order $n$. In this paper, the clique tensor of a graph $G$ is proposed and the spectral Mantel's theorem is extended via the clique tensor. Furthermore, a sharp upper bound of the number of cliques in $G$ via the spectral radius of the clique tensor is obtained. And we show that the results of this paper implies that a result of Erdős [Magyar Tud. Akad. Mat. Kutató Int. Közl. 7 (1962)] under certain conditions.