The Pt-Co catalysts supported on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been prepared by wet impregnation and the selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde (CMA) to the corresponding cinnamyl alcohol (CMO) over the catalysts has been studied in ethanol at different reaction conditions. The results show that Pt-0.17 wt% Co/CNTs catalyst exhibits the highest activity and selectivity at a reaction temperature of 60 degrees C under a pressure of around 2.5 MPa, and 92.4% for the conversion of CMA and 93.6% for the selectivity of CMA to CMO, respectively. The selective hydrogenation for the C = O double bond in CMA would be improved as increasing the H-2 pressure, and the selective hydrogenation for the C C double bond in CMA is enhanced as increasing the reaction temperature. In addition, these catalysts have also been characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), H-2-temperature programmed reduction (H-2-TPR) and H-2-temperature programmed desorption (H-2-TPD) techniques. The results show that Pt particles are dispersed more homogeneously on the outer surface of the nanotubes, while the strong interaction between Pt and Co would improve the increasing of activated hydrogen number because of the hydrogen spillover from reduced Pt-0 onto CNTs and increase the catalytic activity and selectivity of CMA to CMO. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B. V.