The poisoning mechanism of Cl on Ce/TiO2 catalyst was investigated based on temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and the in situ diffuse reflectance infrared transform spectroscopy (DRIFT) studies. The results of NH3-TPD and NO-TPD indicated that the addition of Cl on Ce/TiO2 catalyst would inhibit the adsorption of NH3 species and NOx species on it. As can be seen from the results of in situ DRIFT study, the NH3-SCR reaction over Ce/TiO2 and Ce/TiO2-Cl were all followed both the Eley-Rideal mechanism and the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. And the decreased adsorption ability of NH3 species and NOx species on the surface of Ce/TiO2-Cl should be mainly responsible for its low SCR activity. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.