Ni/gamma-Al2O3 catalyst had been prepared by atmospheric pressure glow discharge (APGD) plasma jet. Such plasma-prepared catalyst exhibited an improved low-temperature activity in CO2 reforming of CH4, compared to that of the catalyst prepared by conventional method. Characteristics of catalysts were analyzed by means of X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed desorption (TPD) experiment with H-2 or CO2 probe, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) procedure, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The XRD and TEM characterization showed that this novel plasma-assisted preparation induced Ni nano-particles as small as 5 nm. The results of XRD, H-2-TPD and TEM confirmed that, the nickel dispersion of the Ni/gamma-Al2O3 catalyst by APGD was enhanced greatly. The improved anti-coke deposition performance was illustrated from the results of TGA, CO2-TPD and the stability test experiments. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.