A series of mono-functional M/SBA-15 (M = Cu, Fe, Cr, and Al) and bifunctional M'/SBA-15 (M' = Cu-Al, Fe-Al, and Cr-Al) catalysts was prepared via an incipient wetness impregnation, and further characterized by N-2 adsorption, XRD, TEM, H-2-TPR, Al-27-NMR, and XPS as well as activity test for C3H6 + NO + O-2 reaction. Ordered mesoporous structure of SBA-15 was well maintained even after impregnating the various metallic components. The deNO(x) activities of investigated catalysts follow a trend of Cu-Al/SBA-15 > Cu/SBA-15, Fe/SBA-15 > Cr-Al/SBA-15 > Cr/SBA-15 >> Fe-Al/SBA-15, Al/SBA-15 > SBA-15. Synergistic effect between copper and alumina was achieved showing a satisfactory NO conversion of approximately 80% over Cu-Al/SBA-15 at temperature as low as 350 degrees C under an atmosphere of 3000 ppm NO, 3000 ppm C3H6, 1% O-2 and GHSV of 60,000 h(-1). The SCR performance was found to be strongly correlated to the redox properties of tested catalysts, essentially chemical nature of supported metals, and surface density of active metallic species. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.