To obtain ultra-deep hydrodesulfurization (HDS) on the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) gasoline and diesel, a novel catalyst has been prepared by an arc discharge method. This nickel yttrium (Ni-Y) bi-metallic catalyst is attached on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and it shows higher HDS activities than that of mono-metal catalyst. Our results demonstrate that the content of SWCNTs has important effect on HDS when the Ni-Y/SWCNTs are oxidized by heat treatment. In addition, further results found that prepared in the He atmosphere by arc discharge, the oxidized Ni-Y/SWCNTs have the best HDS performance due to the high yield of SWCNTs and the much smaller size of Ni-Y nanoparticles. When the Ni-Y/SWCNTs, oxidized at 200 degrees C, are used in the continuous HDS reaction with FCC gasoline as feedstock, the S content of the hydrotreated product is reduced from 259 mg/L to less than 1 mg/L starting from the sixth hour to thirty second hour in reaction. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.