In this study, we investigated the catalysis of Cu/Ce1-xZrxO2 for the synthesis of methanol from CO/CO2/H-2 gas. The Ce1-xZrxO2 was synthesized by a surfactant (CTAB)-assisted co-precipitation method to yield high surface area supports, and Cu was deposited on the supports by a deposition-precipitation method to promote high Cu dispersion. The incorporation of Zr into the CeO2 lattice transformed the structure into a defective, pseudo-cubic one and the amount of incorporated Zr (x) determined the concentration of oxygen vacancy in the lattice. It was proposed that the oxygen vacancy in Ce1-xZrxO2 played an important role in the catalysis by determining concentration and mobility of the adsorbed COx on the catalyst. The activity was also influenced by the exposed surface area of Cu and surface acidity of the catalyst, both of which were closely related to the amount of Zr in the support. To reveal the influences of the catalyst properties on methanol production, various characterization techniques were used, such as XPS, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, H-2-TPR, NH3-TPD, BET and N2O titration methods. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.