Spinel cobalt-iron oxide was synthesized by co-precipitation and hydrothermal routes. The effect of the co-precipitation experimental conditions, the calcination temperature and the hydrothermal synthesis time and temperature on the properties of the solids was studied. The prepared powders were evaluated as catalysts in the ethanol combustion reaction, and were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM/EDX), nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms (BET, BJH) and temperature programmed reduction (TPR) techniques. Using chloride salts as starting materials and sodium hydroxide as precipitating agent, the CoFe2O4 prepared powders displayed a mesoporous structure with a pore distribution strongly dependent on the experimental conditions. A monophasic spinel phase in the case of the calcined solids was obtained while the hydrothermal process led to the formation of a mixture of single oxides in addition to the spinel phase. The variation of the crystallite size and the lattice parameter as a function of calcination temperature was similar, whereas this variation found to be irregular when the synthesis residence time in autoclave was increased. The hydrothermally treated solids show the best catalytic performance in the total oxidation of ethanol. The catalytic behavior was correlated with the crystallite size and the reduction temperature of cobalt species determined by the TPR analysis. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.