The catalytic hydrogenation of 2-ethylhexenal was investigated over Pd supported on ZrO2, CeO2, Al2O3, MCM-41, MAS-7 and SBA-15. The activities and the selectivities of the catalysts were strongly affected by the nature of the support. Pd/ZrO2 had an excellent catalytic performance for the hydrogenation. The superior dispersion of Pd on the support ZrO2, and the stable structure of active components on ZrO2 as well as the synergistic effect of the bifunctional metal-support interaction enhanced the catalytic performance of Pd/ZrO2. The conversion of 2-ethylhexenal and the selectivity for 2-ethylhexanol were 100 and 99.1% respectively when the reaction was carried out at 240 A degrees C for 7 h. The product was easily separated from the catalyst and the catalyst was of good reusability when it was repeated six times. In addition, the aggregation of Pd nanoparticles and the coking of ZrO2 the catalysts were the main cause for the catalyst deactivation.