Ethanol dehydration was investigated at atmospheric pressure with 1.43 h(-1) WHSV in nitrogen, in the temperature range 423-773 K over titania and zirconia, as such and modified by addition of WO3. As for comparison, data on other WO3-free and WO3-containing catalysts are also discussed: a strong Lewis acid (alumina), a covalent oxide (silica) and a basic material (calcined hydrotalcite). The catalysts were characterized using FT-IR of adsorbed pyridine and of wolframate species, and by UV-vis spectroscopy. The results presented here show that WO3/ZrO2 and WO3/TiO2 are excellent catalysts for ethanol dehydration. Their performances may compete with those of zeolites and alumina for conversion to diethyl ether and to ethylene. The addition of WO3 to both ZrO2 and TiO2 introduces strong Bronsted acid sites that are supposed to represent the active sites in the reaction, but also inhibits the formation of byproducts, i.e. acetaldehyde and higher hydrocarbons. This is attributed to the poisoning of basic sites and of reducible surface Ti and Zr centres, respectively. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.