Enantioselective hydrogenation of alpha-phenylcinnamic acid was investigated on Pd/C catalysts prepared in our laboratory to compare activity and selectivity with those on commercial Pd/C and Pd/TiO2 catalysts. The Pd/C catalysts after the 353 K-H-2-pretreatment exhibited satisfactory and comparable performances obtained with commercially available best ever Pd/C by optimizing catalyst preparation. In contrast to Pd/TiO2, a high loading of Pd is not necessary with Pd/C, but only 5% loading on a certain activated carbon was found to result in high e.e. It is suggested that the optimum size or size-distribution of Pd metal particle are different between the two supports, suggesting a support effect of this catalyst system. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.