This work deals with the preparation of gold on titania catalysts to make catalytic films in the less than 100 nm thickness area and its comparison with usual powder catalyst in catalytic oxidation reactions in gas and liquid phases. Titania was coated on glass plates with different thicknesses, but with ultra-low surface roughness (<5 angstrom). Gold deposition was performed with usual chemical method for catalysts preparation, that is deposition-precipitation with urea. Transmission electron microscopy showed that planar samples are decorated with a high quantity (> 10 wt.% with respect to TiO2) of gold nanoparticles smaller than 2.5 nm, with a narrow size distribution. Activity in CO oxidation demonstrates the catalytic behavior of the planar samples, although they are less active than powder catalyst because of the different geometries of the reactors and catalysts. In contrast, their catalytic performances in liquid phase, benzyl alcohol oxidation, are comparable. These results validate the concept that gold planar catalysts prepared by chemical methods can present similar catalytic behavior as real powder gold catalysts. Such planar catalysts could be useful for bridging the material gap between real and model catalysts in advanced techniques, such as scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy or high-pressure photoelectron spectroscopy. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.