We have found that a surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide promoted the formation of metallic Cu nanoparticles on several metal oxides under hydrothermal synthesis conditions without any additive reductants. The Cu nanoclusters and oxide supports were characterized by means of XRD, XRF, XPS, XAFS, BET, SEM, and TEM. We have also found that the supported metallic Cu nanoparticles were active for the selective dehydrogenation of methanol to produce formaldehyde and hydrogen with 100% H-2 selectivity. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.