Iron-based hydrotalcite catalysts such as MnFe, CoFe, CeFe, NiFe and MgFe as well as their single monoxides were screened for selective oxidation of styrene to obtain benzaldehyde and styrene epoxide. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, ATR-FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, chemical analyses, scanning electron microscopy coupled to EDX and N-2 adsorption-desorption measurements, before and after the catalytic evaluation. The influence of the reaction conditions such as temperature, reactant compositions as well as the presence of solvents was also evaluated. Best performances were reached by MnFe due to the presence of alpha-Fe2O3 and gamma-Fe2O3 phases together with the stable MnFe2O4 one. These species allowed reaching 17% of styrene conversion and selectively produced benzaldehyde and styrene epoxide, after 72 h of reaction. Under these conditions, MnFe can be recycled by 3 times with a very low deactivation rate due to the partial loss of catalyst structure, after being characterized by Raman and ATR-FTIR. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.