Alumina was doped with lanthana, La2O3, by either impregnation or co-precipitation. The doped and undoped alumina was then used as supports for the preparation of cobalt catalysts by incipient wetness impregnation. The catalysts prepared were characterized by nitrogen adsorption-desorption, powder X-ray diffraction, hydrogen temperature programmed reduction, hydrogen temperature programmed desorption, O-2-titration and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, and the catalytic properties for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) have been evaluated. The results showed that La2O3-dopping impacted the catalytic performance significantly. The catalyst with the La2O3-doped support prepared by co-precipitation showed better reducibility, activity and product selectivities. The higher ratio of the octahedral to tetrahedral cobalt species of the co-precipitated catalyst relative to the catalyst doped by impregnation might have caused the enhanced performance. The presence of the hydrocarbonyl species, distinguished by its vibrational feature, is directly related to CO conversion and chain-growth. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.