Mesoporous yLaCoO(3)/SBA-15 (y = 10-50 wt%) catalysts were prepared and characterized for the combustion of toluene and ethyl acetate (EA). The results show that well-ordered mesoporous LaCoO3/SBA-15 catalysts of high surface areas (338-567 m(2)/g) could be fabricated by a facile in situ method of hydrothermal treatment. The particles of perovskite-type LaCoO3 were highly dispersed on the walls of pore channels. The ordered mesoporous structure and high dispersion of LaCoO3 are beneficial to the adsorption and activation of toluene and EA molecules. We found that in terms of specific activity, the in situ fabricated 35LaCoO(3)/SBA-15 and 40LaCoO(3)/SBA-15 is, respectively, superior to 35LaCoO(3)/SBA-15_imp (generated by incipient wetness impregnation method) and bulk LaCoO3 (prepared by sol-gel method) in catalytic performance. Based on the above results, we conclude that the excellent performance can be attributed to the good dispersion of highly reducible LaCoO3 species in yLaCoO(3)/SBA-15. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.