A series of ZnO, ZnCr catalysts were prepared by a sol-gel method and ammonia solution was used to adjust the pH of the sol solution. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, in-situ FR-lR, NH3-TPD, in-situ XPS, HRTEM. The results show that lower calcination temperature is helpful to reduce the crystal size and crystallinity of ZnCr nanocrystal, as well as forming a certain amount of structure defects and hydroxyl groups. The hydroxyl groups could be consumed by CO under the interaction between ZnO and ZnCr spinel, resulting in more exposed oxygen vacancies. We find the proper calcination temperature and Zn/Cr molar ratio for the ZnCr catalysts preparation are 400 degrees C and 1.0, respectively. The Zn1Cr1-400 similar to 2.0 catalyst prepared with the pH value of 2 shows more hydroxyl groups and small particle size, exhibiting the best catalytic performance both on the CO conversion (20.9%) and isobutanol selectivity (24.2 wt%).