Catalysts consisting in platinum supported on cerium oxide highly dispersed on activated carbon, with a Pt loading of 1 wt.% and ceria loadings of 5, 10 and 20 wt.% have been prepared by impregnation method and characterized by several techniques (N-2 adsorption at 77K, ICP, XRD, H-2-TPR and XPS). Their catalytic behavior has been evaluated in the total oxidation of ethanol and toluene after reduction at 473 K. The obtained results show that the prepared catalysts have better performances than platinum supported on bulk CeO2. The best catalytic performance was obtained for 10 wt.% ceria loading, likely due to an optimum synergistic interaction between highly dispersed cerium oxide and platinum particles. Pt-10Ce/C achieves total conversion of ethanol and toluene to CO2 at 433 K and 453 K, respectively, and shows no deactivation during a test for 100 h. Under humid conditions (relative humidity, RH, of 40 and 80%), the activity was only slightly influenced due to the hydrophobic character of the activated carbon support, which prevents the adsorption of water. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.