A series of nickel-based catalyst supported on silica (Ni/SiO2) with different loading of Ce/Ni (molar ratio ranging from 0.17 to 0.84) were prepared using conventional co-impregnation method and were applied to synthesis gas production in the combination of CO2 reforming with partial oxidation of methane. Among the cerium-containing catalysts, the cerium-rich ones exhibited the higher activity and stability than the cerium-low ones. The temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS) analysis revealed that the addition of CeO2 reduced the chemical interaction between Ni and support, resulting in an increase in reducibility and dispersion of Ni. Over NiCe-x/SiO2 (x = 0.17, 0.50, 0.67, 0.84) catalysts, the reduction peak in TPR profiles shifted to the higher temperature with increasing Ce/Ni molar ratio, which was attributed to the smaller metallic nickel size of the reduced catalysts. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for the post-reaction catalysts confirmed that the promoter retained the metallic nickel species and prevented the metal particle growth at high reaction temperature. The NiCe-0.84/SiO2 catalyst with small Ni particle size exhibited the stable activity with the constant H-2/CO molar ratio of 1.2 during 6-h reaction in the combination of CO2 reforming with partial oxidation of methane at 850 degrees C and atmospheric pressure. Copyright (C) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.