The selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol was investigated by employing copper chromite catalyst containing 45 wt% copper oxide and 46 wt% chromium oxide. A batch autoclave reactor with a propeller was operated at a temperature of 398 K under 827 kPa (120 psi) pressure with a ratio of catalyst to reactant of 1.05x10(-3) kg catalyst to 15x10(-9) m(3) furfural. N2O pretreatment after reduction was studied in order to increase the Cu1+ species. It was found that N2O was dissociatively adsorbed on the catalyst surface, resulting in the formation of CuCrO2. The influence of the reduction time as well as that of N2O pretreatment is discussed. The maximum furfural conversion was coincident with the maximum amount of accessible Cu metals after H-2 reduction at a temperature of 573 K for 4 h. From this study, Copper metal (Cu-0) is, consequently, inferred as the accessible active species for the selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol.