The gas phase catalytic alkylation of phenol with methanol was investigated over a series of spinel-type cobalt chromite catalysts. The molar ratio of Co/Cr and the calcination temperature have considerable effect on the catalytic performance of the samples. Among them, the Co/Cr=0.8 sample calcined at 723 K shows the highest activity (97.3% phenol conversion) with a total 94.8% ortho-selectivity to o-cresol and 2,6-xylenol at the reaction temperature of 693 K.