Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNTs) supported NiO (NiO/NCNTs) were prepared for catalyzing the oxidation removal of toluene. Characterization and catalysis tests showed the oxygen adspecies concentration and low-temperature reducibility of NiO/NCNTs increased with increasing the doped graphitic-like N (N-G) content of NCNTs, in good agreement with the trend of the catalytic performance of NiO/NCNTs. The optimized NiO/NCNTs-d catalyst with NG content of 6.22 at.% can achieve a completed conversion of toluene at 248 degrees C, and has a TOF value of nearly 10 times to NiO/CNTs at 160 degrees C. Therefore, these results may lead to a new strategy for exploring the advanced catalysts based on the carbon nanomaterials with abundant NG for the catalytic elimination of air pollutants. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.