Emission of volatile organic compounds has important influence on complex air pollution and human health. In this paper, a series of tungsten-iron composite oxides with different proportions and preparation methods were synthesized and first used for catalytic combustion of chlorobenzene and toluene, as typical polluting gas sources. These WO 3 -based solid catalytic materials were systematically characterized by modern analytical methods, and the results showed that there was strong electron interaction between W and Fe elements in the composite oxides, and the presence of a certain amount of tungsten oxide inhibited the crystallization of iron oxide, and vice versa, which were beneficial to the uniform dispersion of tungsten-iron components into each other and the improvement of redox properties. Compared with single-component oxide, the formation of tungsten-iron composite oxide affected the micro-structure, improved the specific surface area and optimized the pore structure of materials. The performance test results showed that the tungsten-iron composite oxide (FeWO 4 -0.5Fe 2 O 3 , molar ratio of tungsten and iron was 1/2) prepared using citric acid-based sol-gel method was the optimal, and its catalytic degradation efficiency could reach 90% for chlorobenzene and 83% for toluene at 320 °C, and maintain at least 60 h without obvious deactivation, with high selectivity to the formation of HCl and CO 2 . KeywordsVolatile organic compounds • Catalytic combustion • WO 3 • FeWO 4 • Composite oxide • Synergistic catalytic effect Tungsten www.springer.com/42864