In the study, the effect of various activation procedures on subsequent performance of the Cs-Cu/ZnO catalyst in higher aliphatic alcohol synthesis from synthesis gas was investigated in a fixed bed reactor. Additional studies on the degree of catalyst reduction were performed using the termobalance coupled with the mass spectrometer. The best yield was obtained after the reduction with hydrogen followed by the stabilization of the catalyst at high temperature with flowing synthesis gas. The catalyst activated with CO produced more C-2+ alcohols than that reduced with hydrogen.