We investigated the catalytic CO oxidation over the SnO2/Al2O3 model catalysts. Our results show that interaction between the Al2O3 and SnO2 phases results in the significantly improved catalytic activity because of the formation of the oxygen vacancies. The oxygen storage capacity of the SnO2/Al2O3 catalyst prepared by the physically mixed method is nearly two times higher than that of the SnO2, which probably results from the change of electron concentration on the interface of the SnO2 and Al2O3 phases. Introducing water vapor to the feeding gas would a little decrease the activity of the catalysts, but the reaction rate could completely recover after removal of water vapor. The kinetics results suggest that the surface Sn4+ cations are effective CO adsorptive sites, and the surface adsorbed oxygen plays an important role upon CO oxidation. The reaction pathways upon the SnO2-based catalysts for CO oxidation follow the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.