This work constitutes an attempt to control the properties of palladium supported on alumina doped with zirconium used in methane oxidation. For this aim, two zirconium precursors were used and sol-gel method was adopted to prepare such catalysts. N-2 physisorption, XRD, scanning electron microscopy, H-2 chemisorption, H-2 TPR and NH3 TPD are the main techniques used to characterize the catalysts. The use of different zirconium precursor affects significantly the textural and the structural properties of these materials. Furthermore, the catalytic activity is seen to depend on the zirconium precursor and the zirconium content simultaneously. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.