The manganese-promoted nickel-based catalysts were prepared via wet-incipient impregnation, and tested in auto-thermal reforming (ATR) of ethanol for hydrogen production. The Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, in which Ni existed as NiAl2O4, produced a low H-2 yield near 1.85 mol H-2/mol ethanol. The Ni-Mn/Al2O3 catalyst showed a better performance in a 30-h test: the conversion of ethanol reached 100%, and a higher H-2 yield remained stable near 3.1-3.2 mol H-2/mol ethanol. This improvement can be attributed to the promotion of Mn: With Mn, the ilmenite-type NiMnO3 was formed, the reducibility of Ni-Mn/Al2O3 was thus improved, and there were more Ni-0 over the surface of catalysts. Moreover, these Ni species were stable in the ATR test, as indicated by XRD and XPS. Copyright (C) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.