A series of ruthenium-supported catalysts were prepared and characterised to determine the effect of support interaction in the production of higher alcohol from syngas. Single oxides with various degrees of acidity/reducibility such as MoO3, ZrO2, WO3 and TiO2 were used as supports. Al2O3 was used as reference. XPS and TGA results indicated that, on the studied supports, partial reduction to various extents was attained. The reduction of these supports was very different: while no reduction was observed for Al2O3, TiO2 and ZrO2, WO3 was little reduced. MoO3 being the most reduced support. Catalytic tests indicate that the selectivity towards oxygenates seems to be linked to the reducibility of the support, since with non-easily reducible oxides (Al2O3, ZrO2 and TiO2) the alcohol production was very low, while higher selectivity was obtained on WO3 and especially on MoO3, the reducible oxides. A SMSI effect is invoked. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.