A series of itaconate esters, e.g. dimethyl itaconate, dibutyl itaconate and diisooctyl itaconate, were synthesized using solid acid SO42-/MxOy (M = Ti4+, Fe3+, Zr4+, Al3+) and SO42-/TiO2-SiO2 modified with lanthanide ion (Ln = La3+, Ce4+, Sm3+) as catalysts. It was found that SO42-/TiO2-SiO2 modified with lanthanide ion were of the same excellent catalytic activity as sulfuric acid (H2SO4). Moreover, Ln similar to SO42-/TiO2-SiO2 is of excellent stability. Take La3+similar to SO42-/TiO2-SiO2 for example, the influence of the preparation conditions on catalytic performance was in detail examined by Py-FTIR, NH3-FTIR, XRD and NH3-TPD, and the optimum preparation conditions were obtained. Furthermore, the effective separation of product combined with the recyclable catalyst is expected to contribute to the development of clean and environmental friendly strategy for the synthesis of itaconate esters. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.