The promotion effect of La, Ce, Sr and Zr on the catalytic and structural properties of nanocrystalline mesoporousy gamma-Al2O3 supported Ni catalysts was investigated in auto thermal reforming of methane. Mesoporous nanocrystalline gamma-Al2O3 powder and promoted ones with high specific surface area (>220 m(2)/g) were prepared by solid state reaction method and employed as the support for nickel catalysts. The prepared catalysts were subjected to autothermal reforming reaction and characterized by XRD, BET, DR-UV-Vis, TPR, TPO and SEM techniques before and/or after the reaction. The effect of experimental conditions, such as temperature was investigated on the catalysts. Ce promoted catalyst, containing small amounts of CeO2 as a separate phase, was found the most effective catalyst between both promoted and unpromoted ones. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.