The effect of active component content on the catalytic activity of supported sulfide catalysts in the synthesis of C-17 olefins from stearic acid has been studied. It has been shown that an increase in the nickel content leads to a decrease in the catalyst activity; in addition, there is a negative correlation between the activity and the fraction of large particles on the support surface. The highest heptadecene selectivity (50-60%) is observed for alumina-supported catalysts owing to the higher degree of dispersion of the active component.