Nitrogen-containing functional groups were introduced into activated carbon (AC) by amination at high temperatures to investigate their effects on the catalytic activity and distribution of products in the catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of phenol at 120 and 160 degrees C. The results show that the catalytic activity of the nitrogen-doped AC increases with amination temperature from 250 to 850 degrees C. The linear relationship between the quantity of nitrogen-containing functional groups and the catalytic activity indicates that the enhanced activities are closely related to the amount of pyridinic and pyrrolic nitrogen groups on the surface of the AC. The parent and aminated AC exhibit distinct distributions of oxidation products. Oxalic acid is favourably degraded on the aminated AC, whereas the all-carbon AC shows a similar ability for the removal of acetic acid.