High specific surface area zirconia with acid-basic property was synthesized by precipitation using reflux method or hydrothermal synthesis method using ammonium hydroxide solution as precipitant in the range of pH of Zr solution from 2 to 10. The prepared zirconia was characterized by the nitrogen adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), isopropanol temperature programmed desorption (IPA-TPD), scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and the catalytic activity in the IPA decomposition reaction was correlated with the acid-basic properties. When using reflux method, high pH of Zr solution was required to obtain high fraction of tetragonal zirconia, and pure tetragonal zirconia was possible at pH 9 or higher. High pH was required to obtain high specific surface area zirconia, and the hydrous zirconia synthesized at pH 10 had high specific surface area zirconia of 260 m2 g-1 even after calcination at 600 °C. However, hydrothermal synthesis with high pressure under the same conditions resulted in very low specific surface area below 40 m2 g-1 and monoclinic phase zirconia was synthesized. High pH of the solution was required to obtain high specific surface area tetragonal phase zirconia. In hydrothermal synthesis requiring high pressure, monoclinic zirconia was produced irrespective of the pH of the solution, and the specific surface area was relatively low. Zirconia with high specific surface area and tetragonal phase was predominantly acidic compared to basicity and only propylene, which was observed as selective dehydration reaction in IPA decomposition reaction, was produced.