The alkylation of iso-butane with 1-butene was catalyzed by triflic acid (TFOH) coupled with a series of protic ammonium-based ionic liquids (AMILs), and the addition of the AMILs dramatically enhanced the efficiency of TFOH for the alkylation reaction. Up to 85.1% trimethylpentanes (TMP) selectivity and 98 research octane number (RON) were achieved with the optimized TFOH/AMIL catalyst ( 75 vol.% triflic acid and 25 vol.% triethylammonium hydrogen sulfate), which were much better than that with the commercial H2SO4 catalyst (65% TMP selectivity, 97 RON) and pure triflic acid. The addition of AMILs increased the I/O ratio dissolved in the catalyst system and adjusted the acidity of the TFOH/AMILs catalyst system, which were highly beneficial to the alkylation reaction and resulted in high TMP selectivity and high RON. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.