Various promoted methanol-steam reforming catalysts were prepared by incorporating Mn, Cr and Zn promoters into two dried corprecipitated Cu-Al catalyst precursors containing 24.1 and 27.8 mass% Cu, calcined at 700 degrees C, and then subjected to various activation treatments. Both the calcined and activated catalysts were thoroughly characterized using reaction studies, ICP-AES, XRD and TPR techniques. Results showed that in addition to Cu2O, CuO, Al2O3 and CuAl2O4 species present in all calcined catalysts, calcined Zn-promoted catalysts contained ZnO and ZnAl2O4 species, whereas calcined Mn- and Cr-promoted catalysts contained CuMnO2 and Mn2O3, and Cu2Cr2O4 and Cr2O3 species, respectively. The nature and amounts of active sites generated on activated catalysts for the methanol-steam reforming reaction strongly depended not only on the promoter type and concentration but also on the activation method.