A novel heterogeneous catalyst was prepared by immobilizing bifunctional acidic ionic liquid of metal Al substituted (BAIL-Al) onto the surface of magnetic gamma-Al2O3, and characterized by FT-IR, TG, XRD, BET, XPS, VSM, SEM and TEM. The catalytic activity of the prepared solid catalyst was investigated for the conversion of xylose to furfural. On the basis, the effects of temperature, time, amount of catalyst and solvent were studied on the yield of furfural. A furfural yield of 67.5% with 97.3% xylose conversion was obtained from xylose using Fe3O4@Al2O3-(BAIL-Al) as the catalyst in DMSO at 140 A degrees C for 3 h. The immobilized catalyst has the features of easily separation and recycling as well as good thermal stability. Thus, the immobilized catalyst can be efficiently and easily recycled at least five times without apparent loss of activity in xylose conversion and furfural yield. A novel heterogeneous catalyst was prepared by immobilized bifunctional acidic ionic liquid (BAIL-Al) onto the surface of magnetic gamma-Al2O3, possessing unique physicochemical properties and excellent catalytic activity for xylose transformation have been developed.