The effect of various gases (O 2 , hydrocarbons, CO, H 2 , NO x , SO 2 , and H 2 O vapor) presenting in the diesel exhaust on soot combustion using LaCoO 3 as a catalytic material was investigated in this paper. A significant promotion of the combustion rate was found following a trend of 10% H 2 O addition [ 3,000 ppm NO x [ 1% H 2 or 3,000 ppm C 3 H 6 addition, while the improvement in soot oxidation due to the introduction of 3,000 ppm CO or 3,000 ppm CH 4 into the reactant gas is relatively less. The wet pretreatment of LaCoO 3 with 10% steam before soot oxidation hardly affects the combustion behavior. Interestingly, 10% water vapor in the reaction feed produced a significant promoting effect on combustion. In contrast, 30 ppm SO 2 treating led to an obvious deactivation likely owing to the coverage of active sites by sulfate compounds.