The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the nature of the hydrogenation active sites on unsupported molybdenum sulfide catalysts, aimed at the improvement of the catalysts for the slurry processes. The number of hydrogenation active sites was found to relate to the "inflection" on the basal plane of the catalyst particles. The comparison of the catalytic activity to that of an oil-soluble catalyst in the hydroprocessing of heavy oils suggests that the performance of the oil-soluble catalyst was near the maximum, unless another component such as Ni or Co was incorporated.