A low-cost and high performance catalyst consisting of Pt decorating PdNi/C (Pt-PdNi/C) for oxygen reduction is prepared by a two-stage route. The characterization techniques considered are X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) technique. The results show that the Pt-PdNi/C catalyst has an average diameter of ca. 5 nm. The electrochemical activity for the ORR is evaluated from steady state polarization measurements, which are carried out in an ultra-thin layer rotating disk electrode (RDE). The RDE tests show that the Pt-PdNi/C catalyst has the highest ORR activity compared to pure Pt/C, Pd/C and PdNi/C catalysts. High electrocatalytic activities could be attributed to the synergistic effect between Pt and PdNi. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.