The aim of this work was to study the effect of the presence of various amounts of cerium on palladium supported on an alumina pillared clay for the catalytic oxidation of propene. For this purpose, a montmorillonite clay was intercalated and pillared with alumina, then used as a support for palladium. The palladium loading was selected on the basis of previous findings from our group. Cerium loadings of between 0 and 1 wt.% were added after the incorporation of palladium onto the support. The resulting catalysts were characterized by nitrogen physisorption at - 196 degrees C, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results obtained suggest that the added Ce partially blocks the microporous volume of the metal catalyst and interacts with the Pd to form new metallic species that enhance the behavior of the initial catalyst in the oxidation of propene. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.