Ni-Mg supported on both mesoporous Al2O3-SiO2(10) and gamma-Al2O3 with Al2O3 -SiO2/Mg = 10 and gamma-Al2O3/Mg = 10 ratio were prepared via wet impregnation method. The synthesized materials were characterized by XRD, N-2-sorption study, NH3-TPD/H-2-TPR, FT-IR, DRS-UV and used in hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of eugenol to produce hydrocarbons in a high pressure reactor. The reactant molecules could be facilitated to yield hydrocarbon fuel by active nickel active sites. The high oxygen removal efficiency of 75% was achieved with C9 hydrocarbon selectivity. Evaluation of catalytic properties such as high hydrogen consumption of 145 gmol/g (H-2-TPR) and enriched surface acidity of 2.35 mmol g(-1) (NH3-TPD) was done. Ni/Mg-SA (10) exhibited the highest catalytic activity of 6.7 x 10(-4) mol g(-1) s(-1) SRR and 10.27 s(-1) TOF respectively. The stability of catalysts was found to be 185 mg/g for Ni/Mg-SA (10) catalyst by TGA analysis. The structure-activity relationship was studied and the product distributions were also discussed in detail. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.