The catalytic steam reforming of methanol has been investigated over Cu-based catalysts with and without Pd addition, and comparing with typical commercial catalysts. The most active commercial catalyst had an activity comparable to values reported in the literature. The effect of adding Pd to a CuZn catalyst was twofold. The initial start-up properties of the catalyst were improved, allowing a rapid attainment of the activity without any pre-reduction of the catalyst. However, the addition of Pd also led to poorer selectivity, due to a significant increase in the selectivity to CO. (C) 2006 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.