A ruthenium catalyst supported on the cheap bentonite with high activity has been prepared by impregnation-hydrothermal method and characterized by TEM, XRD, and XPS. The catalytic performance for selective hydrogenation of benzene to cyclohexene was investigated. The effect of additives NaOH and ZnSO4 on the catalytic performances was studied. It was demonstrated that both NaOH and ZnSO4 could significantly enhance the selectivity to cyclohexene over Ru/bentonite catalyst. The influences of reaction temperature, pressure, amounts of catalyst and additives, and reaction time on the selective hydrogenation of benzene were studied in detail. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.