The organic polymer chitosan was used as the polymeric precursor for the synthesis of Ni/CeO2 nanocomposite catalysts. The materials were characterized by N-2 physisorption, H-2 chemisorption, AA, XRD, TGA, TPR, SEM and TEM analyses. The catalysts provide very good reactivity in ethanol steam reforming compared to the conventional Ni/CeO2 catalyst prepared by the impregnation method using a commercial support. High hydrogen selectivity (> 75%) was obtained on Ni/CeO2 catalysts by operating at a temperature range of 325-500 degrees C and a H2O/C2H5OH molar ratio of 3. It was verified that the catalytic behavior could be influenced depending on the experimental conditions employed.