Reforming of CH4 with CO2 to produce syngas was studied over Ni0.03Mg0.97O solid solution catalyst and its bimetallic derivative catalysts which contained small amounts of Pt, Pd or Rh (the atomic ratio M/(Ni + Mg) was about 2 x 10(-4), M = Pt, Pd or Rh). It was found that although the Ni0.03Mg0.97O catalyst showed an excellent stability and activity at the reaction temperature of 1123 K, it lost its activity completely within 51 h when the reaction temperature was as low as 773 K. However, both the activity and the stability at 773 K were improved significantly by adding Rh, Pt, or Pd. This synergistic effect is rationally explained by the promoted reducibility of Ni. On all these catalysts, the amount of deposited carbon during the reaction was very low, suggesting that carbon deposition was not the main cause of the deactivation. Also, the catalytic activity of bimetallic catalysts increased gradually with the noble metal loading, but after passing through a maximum, it decreased with superfluous addition. The maximum was found to be located at around the atomic ratio of M/(Ni + Mg) approximate to 0.02% (M = Pt, Pd and Rh). This phenomenon could most probably be attributed to the different composition of Pt-Ni alloy particles formed after the reduction.