SBA-15 was synthesized and used as support for a Ni catalyst prepared by deposition-precipitation (D-P). Support and catalyst were characterized by nitrogen physisorption, XRD, HREM and temperature programmed reduction (TPR). The results show that, at the Ni loading used here (10.3 wt% Ni), SBA-15 preserves its hexagonal porous arrangement. After the D-P process, the Ni phases deposited on SBA-15 were 1:1 nickel phyllosilicate and nickel hydroxide. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations and the evaluation of the reduced catalyst in the hydrogenation of naphthalene showed that with the D-P synthesis method it is possible to obtain Ni/SBA-15 catalysts with high dispersion and metal loading. The catalyst obtained by D-P showed higher activity in the hydrogenation of naphthalene than one prepared similarly but using MCM-41 as support. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.