Bayberry tannin (BT), a natural plant polyphenol, was used as a stabilizer to prepare supported platinum catalysts. Bayberry tannin was first grafted onto aminated SiO2 beads and subsequently coordinate with Pt(IV) species. Then a series of heterogeneous Pt-bayberry tannin-SiO2 (Pt-BT-SiO2) catalysts was obtained after reduction with NaBH4. The catalysts were characterized by UV-DR, XRD and TEM, and the coordination state of Pt(IV) with BT grafted on SiO2 beads was investigated by XPS. It was found that the Pt-BT-SiO2 catalysts were highly active and stable in aqueous hydrogenation of acrylic acid, alpha-methacrylic acid, allyl alcohol and 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol. Moreover, the Pt-BT-SiO2 catalysts could be conveniently recovered from the reaction systems simply by filtration, and be reused at least five times without loss of activity. Crown Copyright (c) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.