Methanol electrochemical oxidation on carbon supported electrocatalysts was studied on platinum, ruthenium and molybdenum as active phases. Pt/C, PtRu/C, PtMo/C and PtRuMo/C catalysts were synthesized with 20% metal loading by chemical reduction. These catalysts were physical and electrochemical characterized by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), cyclic voltammetry and CO anodic stripping voltammetry. Chronoamperometry was used to analyze and compare the catalysts activities after an electrochemical surface activation. The platinum active area was determined by anodic stripping CO voltammetry, exhibiting a different electrochemical profile for each catalyst. PtMo/C CO oxidation profile exhibited two peaks and clearly depicted the lowest onset potential value. The electrochemical methods revealed an enhanced performance of PtMo/C catalysts for methanol oxidation in comparison with the others catalysts studied. After the integration of chronoamperometric plots over 20 min in methanol acid media at 450 mV, PtMo/C catalyst presented charge densities values three times greater than PtRu/C and PtRuMo/C. It was not found any catalytic activity for the Pt/C at this potential value. According with our results PtMo/C can be considered more tolerant to the formation of catalytic poisons. Copyright (C) 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.