The effect of adding some amounts of cerium into Zn-Fe-O/Al2O3 sorbent on its performance of removal of organic sulfur compounds from gasoline by adsorption was studied in this paper. It showed that the ideal compositions for the preparation of Zn-Fe-Ce-O/Al2O3 consisted of 4.54 wt.% ZnO, 2.25 wt.% Fe2O3 and 2.5 wt.% CeO2, respectively, shortened as AZFC(0.52). Further study indicated that this sorbent could be well regenerated at 250 degreesC with gas mixtures containing 6.0 vol.% steam + air and 2400 ml h(-1) ml(-1) gas space velocity. At those regenerated conditions and 60 degreesC adsorption temperature, the AZFC(0.52) sorbent had better desulfurization stability, which was confirmed by typical characterization results using BET, XRD and SEM apparatus. This implied that the AZFC(0.52) sorbent could be an ideal sorbent for removal of organic sulfur compounds from gasoline. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.