An efficient method for the reduction of benzaldehyde to toluene over Ni-30/gamma-Al2O3 in the presence of aniline and H-2 was established for the first time in this work. Toluene was obtained in the yield of 96.5% and no methyl cyclohexane was detected. The catalyst was characterized by XRD. Ni-0 was the active sites for the hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis. Aniline played an important role during the reduction process. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.