Supported gold nanoparticles perform as a potential catalyst for CO oxidation, propylene epoxidation and hydrogenation reactions, while using them for alcohol oxidation reaction in the presence of molecular oxygen is a challenging task. Nanocrystalline ceria supported gold catalysts are suitable candidates for alcohol oxidation reaction under mild condition. In this study, ceria based mixed oxides were prepared by modified sol gel method using triethanolamine/water mixture where the defect sites were created by doping Sm3+ cation to cerium oxide. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, FT-RAMAN, TPR, TPD, XPS, XAFS, and HRTEM techniques. Strong gold support interaction facilitates the easy removal of capping oxygen ions present in the Sm3+ doped cerium oxide surface as observed by XPS and TPR studies. The acid base property of the CeO2 oxide after incorporation of samarium and gold deposition was observed from TPD studies. The Au/Sm-CeO2 catalyst was active for benzyl alcohol oxidation reaction using molecular O-2 under mild condition. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.