In current study, various pore-forming agents were employed for the synthesis of Fe-W-Ti catalysts via sol-gel one-pot approach, and the catalytic performance was investigated for selective catalytic reduction of NOx by ammonia (NH3-SCR). Among all the catalysts, Fe0.2W0.2Ti(U-0.03, urea-modification) catalyst exhibited more than 95% NOx conversion in range of 240-420 degrees C, and excellent performance of resistance to SO2 and H2O was observed with a slight decline of NOx conversion to 92%. The characterization results revealed that urea-modified catalyst possessed low crystallinity of TiO2 with particle size of 3.8 nm and the dispersion of Fe-W species was increased significantly, which could be ascribed to the high specific surface area (144.92 m(2)/g) and superior porous structure. The sufficient strong acid, the remarkable reducibility and the increase in the ratio of divalent iron & adsorbed oxygen may be responsible for the excellent catalytic activity. Moreover, a dramatic drop in the specific surface area and surface acidity of the hydrothermal aged catalyst was observed, and the active species also became agglomerated with FeWO4 solid solution. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.