The aldol reactions of aromatic aldehydes with ketones catalyzed by pyrrolidine were accelerated by addition of a series of Bronsted acids to the reaction medium and found that the catechol was the most effective co-catalyst. The combination of pyrrolidine and catechol are very efficient for catalyzing the reaction to proceeding under mild conditions with high yield in short time. [GRAPHICS] (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.