This work reports a chemo-selective semi-hydrogenation of alkynes to alkenes using silica supported palladium phosphine catalyst with syngas (CO/H-2). This developed methodology is an alternative to classical Lindlar catalyst for chemo-selective semi-hydrogenation of alkynes to alkenes. Various alkynes were smoothly convert to alkenes in 60-97% conversion with 85-98% selectivity. The prepared catalyst was well characterized by Field Emmission Gun Scanning Electron Microscopy (FEG-SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Inductively Coupled Plasma- Atomic Emmission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) analysis techniques. In addition, catalyst was effectively recycled up to four consecutive run without significant loss in its catalytic activity and selectivity. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.