A XANES study under reaction conditions has been performed with two different V-based catalytic systems, Mo-V-Nb-Te-O and V-Sb-O. For this study, an alumina-supported nanoscaled bulk catalyst has been used. In all cases XANES determined the average vanadium oxidation state during reaction. XANES also demonstrated that the nanosized phases are more dynamic, and able to participate in the redox catalytic cycle without significant changes either in their structure or in the overall vanadium oxidation state. Such a stability is also apparent under oxidizing conditions.