Dependence of hydrogen production via the catalytic steam reforming of ethanol on the metal oxide support and first row transition metal catalyst was investigated. Ni supported on CeO2 was more easily reduced and began to produce hydrogen at a lower temperature than Ni supported on ZrO2, SiO2, Al2O3, and MgO. Ni/CeO2 also maintained a high activity at a constant reaction temperature of 673 K and inhibited carbon deposition. Therefore, CeO2 was adopted as the catalytic support. Compared with Ni/CeO2, Fe/CeO2 and Mn/CeO2 were less active. Contrarily, Co/CeO2 was slightly less active at 673 K, but exhibited a comparable hydrogen yield at 873 K. The Cu/CeO2 system was reduced more readily and produced hydrogen at a lower temperature, but its activity gradually deteriorated by carbon deposition. Thus we concluded that Ni/CeO2 exhibited the best combination of properties with the highest hydrogen yield at 673 K and a long stability.