Polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are listed as carcinogenic and mutagenic priority pollutants, belonging to the environmental endocrine disrupters. Most PAHs in the environment stem from the atmospheric deposition and diesel emission. Consequently, the elimination of PAHs in the off-gases is one of the priority and emerging challenges. Catalytic oxidation has been widely used in the destruction of organic compounds due to its high efficiency (or conversion of reactants), its economic benefits, and good applicability. This study investigates the application of the catalytic oxidation using Pt/γ-Al2O3 catalysts to decompose PAHs and taking naphthalene (the simplest and least toxic PAH) as a target compound. It studies the relationships between conversion, operating parameters and relevant factors such as treatment temperatures, catalyst sizes and space velocities. Also, a related reaction kinetic expression is proposed to provide a simplified expression of the relevant kinetic parameters. The results indicate that the Pt/γ-Al2O3 catalyst used accelerates the reaction rate of the decomposition of naphthalene and decreases the reaction temperature. A high conversion (over 95 %) can be achieved at a moderate reaction temperature of 480 K and space velocity below 35,000 h(-1). Non-catalytic (thermal) oxidation achieves the same conversion at a temperature beyond 1000 K. The results also indicate that Rideal-Eley mechanism and Arrhenius equation can be reasonably applied to describe the data by using the pseudo-first-order reaction kinetic equation with activation energy of 149.97 kJ/mol and frequency factor equal to 3.26 x 10(17)s(-1). © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.