Unsupported nickel-molybdenum-tungsten sulphide catalysts were prepared from tri-metallic Ni-Mo-W alkyl precursors by in situ activation during the hydrodesulphurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT). The tri-metallic Ni-Mo-W precursors were prepared by reaction of tetraalkylammonium thiomolibdotungstates salts, (R 4 N) 4 MoWS 8 (where R = H, methyl, propyl, butyl, cetyl-trimetyl), with NiCl 2 in water at a Ni/Mo(W) molar ratio of 2. These precursors are named Ni/(NH 4 ) C 1 , NiMoW-C 3 , NiMoW-C 4 and NiMoW-C C catalysts respectively. These catalysts exhibit a ''Swiss-cheese''-like morphology, a wide distribution of specific areas (from 46.9-194.07 m 2 /g) and high content of carbon (C/Mo = 2.5-8.9). The in situ activation of these tetraalkylammonium thiotrimetallates precursors leads to a mesoporous structure with pore size ranging from 10-40 Å and type IV adsorption-desorption isotherms of nitrogen. X-ray diffraction showed that the structure of unsupported nickelmolybdenum-tungsten sulphide catalysts corresponds to a typical structure of 2H-MoS 2 poorly crystalline with low-stacked layers. The nature of the alkyl group strongly affects both the specific area and the HDS activity. The catalytic activity is strongly enhanced when using carbon-containing precursors; the NiMoW catalysts prepared by in situ activation present high HDS activity. The lowest specific area of the catalysts was observed for the NiMoW-H sample.