The utilisation of gold-palladium nanoparticles either in the form of colloids or supported nanoparticles has received enormous attention in recent years. These materials are very effective for the transformation of organic compounds to highly useful chemical products. The catalytic materials are usually prepared using deposition-precipitation and impregnation techniques, but recently significant attention has been focused on the use of colloidal methods. Here we compare and contrast the preparation and catalytic reactivity of Au-Pd supported nanoparticles synthesised by deposition-precipitation and colloidal methods. The catalyst materials have been evaluated for three different reactions, namely, the oxidation of benzyl alcohol, the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide and the oxidation of carbon monoxide. In addition, we have focused our attention on the pre-treatment temperature and the improvement of the deposition-precipitation method by using urea and sodium borohydride for the preparation of highly active Au-Pd supported nanoparticles. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.