Oxidation of various alcohols is studied in the liquid phase under nitrogen atmosphere over vanadium phosphorus oxide catalyst in an environmental friendly protocol using hydrogen peroxide. The catalyst and the method are found to be suitable for the selective oxidation of a variety of secondary aliphatic, alicyclic and aromatic alcohols to the corresponding ketones. The catalyst is soluble in the reaction mixture; however, it could be re-used by the addition of new batch of substrate along with the solvent and oxidant to the previous reaction mixture. The reaction mechanism is expected to involve a redox cycle in which V4+ in combination with dynamic V5+ sites are acting as the active centers. The active V4+ phase is expected to be a vanadium complex with oxo and phospho ligands. Published by Elsevier B.V.