It has been found that gold is highly active and selective catalyst for the hydrogenation of succinic anhydride (SAN) to gamma-butyrolactone (GBL). Using TiO2 as support and performing the reaction in presence of molecular sieves, it was possible to obtain the highest reaction rate ever obtained with 97% selectivity to GBL at 97% conversion. The process appears to be controlled by H-2 dissociation on gold and the catalytic activity can be further improved, without loss of selectivity, by adding a very small amount of Pt (100 ppm) to increase the rate of H-2 dissociation. We also found that gold is an efficient catalyst for the one-pot conversion of SAN into pyrrolidone and pyrrolidone derivates. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.