Four Pt catalysts supported on two commercially available activated carbons supplied by Norit were prepared with H2PtCl6 and (Pt(NH3)(4))Cl-2 as metal precursors to study the effect of the metal precursor and support texture on catalytic activity. The supports were characterised by chemical analysis, FTIR, volumetric adsorption and TPD. The reduction temperature was determined by TPR. For the catalysts, the metal load was determined by atomic absorption and dispersion measurements were performed by chemisorption, No reference was found in the literature for the application of Pt/active carbon catalysts in the acetone hydrogenation reaction. Our catalysts were used in the reaction of low temperature (between 50 and 130 degreesC) hydrogenation of acetone in the gaseous phase. The catalysts prepared from H2PtCl6 had a metal load closer to that expected, were more dispersed and showed greater catalytic activity than the catalysts prepared from (Pt(NH3)(4))Cl-2.