Mesoporous Ni-Co based nanocomposites with varied compositions were prepared without addition of a template. The physicochemical properties of Ni-Co catalysts were characterized extensively using techniques such as N-2 adsorption, ICP, XRD, H-2 chemisorption, TPR, TEM and TGA. The obtained results demonstrated that the addition of different amounts of Co could affect the metal support interactions, thus influence the synergetic effect between Ni and Co species, which affects the formation process of Ni-Co intermetallic particles. Among all the bimetallic catalysts, 50Ni50Co sample was characterized by better developed intermetallic alloy as well as metal-support interaction which in turn led to the best match of carbon intermediate formation and elimination rates during methane dry reforming reaction, therefore the 50Ni50Co sample showed the most excellent catalyst activity and stability with the mildest carbon deposition. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.