Herein a strategy to design highly efficient Au/CeO2/Al2O3 based WGS catalysts is proposed. The inclusion of transition metals, namely Fe, Cu and Zn as CeO2 dopant is considered. All the promoters successfully increased the WGS performance of the undoped sample. The activity improvement can be correlated to structural and/or redox features induced by the dopants. The comparative characterization of the doped samples by means of XRD, Raman spectroscopy and OSC evaluation permits an accurate understanding of the boosted WGS activity arising from the Ce-promoter interaction. This study establishes distinction among both, structural and redox sources of promotion and provides a useful strategy to develop highly active Au/CeO2 based catalysts for the WGS reaction. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.