Nanostructured metal oxides are good candidates for applications in heterogeneous catalysis. Recently our consortium has developed the preparation of such materials by exploiting the redox properties of the non-thermal gliding arc plasma (glidarc) in humid air. This contribution aims at sharing with the community active in the field of heterogeneous catalysis that the glidarc technique is an easy and accessible, but powerful technique with a very bright future that can be used for producing heterogeneous oxide catalysts. Therefore, we present here our most recent achievements in the preparation of titanium, iron and manganese oxide catalysts using glidarc. TiO2 nanorods containing both rutile and anatase phases with improved photocatalytic activity under visible light were obtained by oxidizing Ti3+ ions in aqueous solution with the plasma species. Fe2+ ions exposed to the plasma discharge were transformed into sea-urchin-like porous goethite (alpha-FeOOH) nanostructures via the consecutive oxidation-hydrolysis processes. The synthesized goethite was mesoporous with a high surface area. Clay supported catalysts were also prepared by depositing the goethite particles on kaolinite. Those catalysts (and their calcination products) were active in heterogeneous Fenton degradation of organic dyes. alpha-MnO2 nanorods were obtained by a rapid reduction of MnO4 - ions after exposing an aqueous solution of potassium permanganate to the plasma discharge.