Rare earth metal doped HTLPs (hydrotalcites-like precursors) were successfully synthesized by coprecipitation method. The prepared HTLPs were characterized by FE-SEM (field emission scanning electron microscopy), EDX (energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), XRD (X-ray diffraction), BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) technique. BET surface analysis results revealed that the surface area of Ce doped HTLPs are quite high than un-doped precursors. Further, the catalytic performance of prepared materials was investigated for hydrogen production from sodium borohydride and it was found that a small amount of Ce doping thoroughly enhance the catalytic activity of HTLPs. BET and XRD results clearly indicated that sizeable change in framework and surface restructuring could occur during cerium doping resulting beneficial effect on its catalytic performances and HTLPs are highly stable even at highly basic conditions. The reaction conditions such as temperature ranging from 25 degrees C to 75 degrees C, catalyst amount of 0.08 wt % to 0.16 wt % while molar percent of cerium from 2 mol % to 10 mol %, respectively were investigated. Moreover, it is very convenient to recover the catalyst at the end of reactions; the solid catalyst left could be readily reused for the next consecutive cycles. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.