The effects of active components, promoters and reforming reaction on structure variation of catalysts for carbon dioxide reforming with methane are extensively investigated. It is found that the active component and promoters disperse in different sites on the support. The impregnated metal species may be mainly located on the inner surface of the micropore of the support. The 8.5%Ni-2%MgO-3%CeO2/Al2O3 catalyst achieves best metal dispersion among the tested catalysts. It is also interesting to note that the addition of the alkaline oxide promoter (MgO) prohibits the metal dispersion on the support, while the addition of rare-earth metal oxide CeO2 effectively promotes the Ni metal dispersion on the surface of the support despite of unsatisfactory self-dispersion of CeO2 promoter.