N-butyl lactate was synthesized with a good yield (the maximum product yield was 95.7% at 140 degrees C) by the reaction between lactic acid and n-butanol over TiO2-Al2O3 catalysts. These catalysts had various Ti/Al atomic ratios (ratio = 1/0, 9/1, 3/1, 1/1, 1/3, 1/9, and 0/1) and were prepared by a co-precipitation method. XRD, n-butylamine adsorption, nitrogen adsorption. and SEM were used to characterize the oxides. The maximum activity was found for the catalyst with Ti/AI atomic ratio = 1 (TA11). The superiority of TA11 was ascribed to its largest surface area and its maximum acidity. Under identical reaction conditions, TA11 catalyst exhibited significantly better activity than the TiO2-ZrO2 catalysts reported earlier, which should be due to the larger surface area of the former. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.