Mesoporous nanocrystalline zirconia with high-surface area and pure tetragonal crystalline phase has been prepared by the surfactant-assisted route, using Pluronic P123 block copolymer surfactant. The synthesized zirconia showed a surface area of 174 m(2) g(-1) after calcination at 700 degrees C for 4h. The prepared zirconia was employed as a support for nickel catalysts in dry reforming reaction. It was found that these catalysts possessed a mesoporous structure and even high-surface area. The activity results indicated that the nickel catalyst showed stable activity for syngas production with a decrease of about 4% in methane conversion after 50h of reaction. Addition of promoters (CeO2, La2O3 and K2O) to the catalyst improved both the activity and stability of the nickel catalyst, without any decrease in methane conversion after 50h of reaction. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.