A series of binary oxide catalysts (ceria-ZnO) were prepared and doped with different amounts of palladium in the range of 0.5%-1.5%. The prepared catalysts were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD and XPS, as well as by N-2 sorptiometry study. The XPS results confirmed the structure of the Pd CeO2-x-ZnO. The photocatalytic activity of these catalysts was evaluated for degradation of MTBE in water. These photocatalyst efficiently degrade a 100 ppm aqueous solution of MTBE upon UV irradiation for 5 h in the presence of 100 mg of each of these photocatalysts. The removal of 99.6% of the MTBE was achieved with the ceria-ZnO catalyst doped with 1% Pd. In addition to the Pd loading, the N-2 sorptiometry study introduced other factors that might affect the catalytic efficiency is the catalyst average pore sizes. The photoreaction was determined to be a first order reaction. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.