The catalysts with different rare earth oxides (La, Ce, Pr and Nd) loaded onto activated semi-coke (ASC) via hydrothermal method are prepared for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with NH3 at low temperature (150-300 degrees C). It is evidenced that CeO2 loaded catalysts present the best performance, and the optimum loading amount of CeO2 is about 10 w%. Composite catalysts by doping La, Pr and Nd into CeO2 are prepared to obtain further improved catalytic properties. The SCR mechanism is investigated through various characterizations, including XRD, Raman, XPS and FT-IR, the results of which indicate that the oxygen defect plays an important role in SCR process and the doped rare earth elements effectively serve as promoters to increase the concentration of oxygen vacancies. It is also found that the oxygen vacancies in high concentration are favored for the adsorption of O-2 and further oxidation of NO, which facilitates a rapid progressing of the following reduction reactions. The SCR process of NO with NH3 at low temperature over the catalysts of ASC composite-supported rare earth oxides mainly follows the Langmuir-Hinshlwood mechanism. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.