To develop a novel catalyst system that has excellent olefin reduction capability for FCC gasoline without loss in octane number. different catalysts supported on multiple composite carriers consisting of SAPO-11, Hbeta, HMOR and HZSM-5 were prepared and their catalytic performances for FCC gasoline upgrading were assessed in the present investigation. The pore structure and acidity of the catalysts were characterized by N-2 adsorption and pyridine adsorption FTIR, respectively. Based on the results obtained over the catalysts supported on binary-zeolite carriers (Hbeta/H7SM-5, H-MOR/HZSM-5 and SAPO-11/HZSM-5) using FCC gasoline as the feedstock, various multiple-zeolite supported catalysts were developed from different combinations of the binary-zeolite systems. It was found that the SAPO-11/HMOR/beta/ZSM-5 quadruple composite zeolite supported catalyst gave higher liquid yield, improved gasoline RON, and lower coke deposit amount for the hydro-upgrading of FCC gasoline and thus can be considered as a potential catalyst system. A comprehensive analysis based on the catalytic activities and acidity measurements revealed that acid strength and acid type were two very important factors influencing hydroisomenzation and aromatization activities, and the difference in catalyst acid strength determined which factor predominates. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.