In the present research, the effect of different fuels on preparation of MgAl2O4 spinel, as the catalyst support, via the facile and economical combustion synthesis method is investigated. For this purpose, MgAl2O4 is synthesized by applying glycerine, citric acid, ethylene glycol and urea. It is then impregnated by MgO as the active phase of the biodiesel production process. The synthesized nanocatalysts were characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDX-Dot mapping, BET-BJH, FTIR and TGA analyses. Catalytic activity of the prepared nanocatalysts is evaluated through the transesterification reaction for the biodiesel production at 110 degrees C, alcohol-to-oil molar ratio of 12, catalyst-in-feed concentration of 3 wt.% and reaction time of 3 h. Due to significant physicochemical properties of the sample prepared by urea, it exhibits considerable capabilities in terms of biodiesel production. Using the prepared sample by urea, an oil-to-biodiesel conversion of 95% is achieved, while the sample is properly stable after six reaction replications. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.