Gold nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by pulsed laser ablation of a gold target in water were efficiently deposited on TiO2 (P25) without any post-treatment yielding catalysts with Au loadings up to 10 wt%. Regardless of the loading, the Au NPs had a mean diameter of 8 nm before and after deposition. The ligand-free Au NPs strongly bind to TiO2 surface oxygen vacancies and maintain a homogeneous distribution with loadings up to 4 wt%, while a further increase in Au content up to 10 wt% results in additional weakly adsorbed Au NPs. The catalytic tests of the Au/TiO2 samples in the selective oxidation of ethanol in the liquid phase identified an optimal loading of 4 wt% resulting in the highest yield of acetic acid, which is ascribed to the homogeneous Au distribution and the adequate occupation of surface oxygen vacancies by strongly bound Au NPs without significant Au sintering during reaction. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.