Mesoporous nanocrystalline zirconia with a high surface area and pure tetragonal crystallite phase has been prepared by the surfactant-assisted route, using a Pluronic P123 block copolymer surfactant. The synthesized zirconia showed a surface area of 174 m(2) g(-1) after calcination at 700 degrees C for 4 h. X-ray diffraction and nitrogen adsorption analysis showed that the tetragonal phase and mesoporous structure were stable toward higher temperatures. The synthesized zirconia was employed as support for nickel catalysts for the production of syngas by dry reforming reaction. It was shown that the 5% Ni/ZrO2 catalyst exhibited stable activity for syngas production with a decrease of about 4% in methane conversion after 50 h of reaction. The addition of cerium oxide to the nickel catalyst improved its stability and decreased the coke deposition.