Pt/SBA-15 catalysts, modified by zinc addition (at different Zn/Pt atomic ratios) via the co-impregnation method, were tested for the liquid phase hydrogenation of citral. The influence of the Zn insertion on the Pt monometallic catalyst properties was evaluated by different physico-chemical techniques, including X-ray diffraction, N-2-physisorption, transmission electron microscopy, hydrogen chemisorption, and cyclohexane dehydrogenation as model reaction for platinum accessibility and zinc covering evaluation. On the catalysts, the hexagonal periodic structure of SBA-15 framework was maintained indicating that neither Pt and Zn impregnations, nor thermal treatments affect the organized structure of the support. A decrease of the platinum metallic accessibility was observed with the increase in the Zn concentration in the materials, which was explained, on the basis of the TEM analysis, by a poisoning of the platinum accessible sites by zinc species. For the citral hydrogenation, Pt/SBA-15 monometallic catalyst is very active, with 100% conversion obtained after 30 min reaction time, but very poorly selective in unsaturated alcohols. Zinc addition led to an inhibition of the hydrogenating activity, in agreement with the decrease of the active surface, but contributed to an increase in the selectivity to unsaturated alcohols. Selectivity in unsaturated alcohol was observed to reach a maximum of 75%, for a Zn content equal to 0.3 wt.%, that is a very interesting value if compared to performances obtained with other more classical dopant including titania and germanium. (c) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.