The herringbone and platelet carbon nanofibers and the activated carbon were used as the supports of nickel catalyst for the selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde to hydrocinnamaldehyde (HALD). The hydrogenation of HALD and cinnamyl alcohol under the same experimental conditions was also performed to determine the susceptibility of the isolated and conjugated C=O and C=C bonds to hydrogenation. The catalytic activity and selectivity of the nickel supported on carbons of different structure were evaluated based on the determination of the rate constants of the hydrogenation reaction. The nickel particle size effect was found to be crucial for the catalyst performance.