Selective hydrogenation of trans-cinnamaldehyde was studied on SiO 2 -supported Co-Ir bimetallic catalysts. Addition of Ir to Co/SiO 2 increased the hydrogenation selectivity and activity of cinnamaldehyde to the corresponding cinnamyl alcohol (UOL). A selectivity as higher as 93% to UOL at ambient temperature under H 2 pressure of 2.0 MPa was obtained over catalyst with loadings of 10 wt% Co and 0.5 wt% Ir (Co 10:0 Ir 0:5 /SiO 2 ). The XRD, Raman and TPR results showed that the higher dispersed Co 3 O 4 particles were formed on SiO 2 due to the addition of Ir, which increased the reducibility of Co 3 O 4 to Co 0 . The reduction of oxidized Co-Ir/SiO 2 samples occurred at the temperatures with about 200 K lower than that of the one without Ir species as evidenced by the observations of TPR and in-situ Raman characterizations. The XPS results indicated that the large parts of Co 3 O 4 in the sample of Co-Ir/SiO 2 were reduced to Co 0 , but only small parts of that were reduced to Co 0 in the sample of Co/SiO 2 under flowing 5%H 2 /Ar at 673 K. The CO chemisorptions revealed that the irreversible uptakes of CO on the reduced Co-Ir/SiO 2 sample was much higher than those on the reduced Co/SiO 2 and Ir/SiO 2 , and also higher than the combination of that on the reduced Co/ SiO 2 and Ir/SiO 2 , respectively. The experimental data suggested that the presence of Ir played a key role in the reduction of Co 3 O 4 to Co 0 through a strong interaction between them and that the amount of Co 0 at the catalyst surfaces was correlated to the activity and more importantly to the UOL selectivity.