Mesoporous ceria materials doped with Mn (CeMnO) have been synthesized by a convenient soft-templating method. The mesoporous structures, chemical composition, and activity of lattice oxygen have been characterized by various techniques including N-2 adsorption-desorption, XRD, TEM, FT-IR, XPS, and H-2-TPR. The introduction of Mn has not only increased the surface area and pore size of ceria, but also enhanced the activity of lattice oxygen of ceria. In the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde, the CeMnO samples exhibit good and stable catalytic activity, much higher than the value obtained over the pure mesoporous ceria sample. [GRAPHICS] .