In order to develop a catalyst with high activity and stability for catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) process at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, we prepared Fe2O3-CeO2-TiO2/gamma-Al2O3 by consecutive impregnation, and determined its properties using BET, SEM, XRF, XPS and chemical analysis techniques. The degradation of an azo dye, methyl orange, in CWAO process with Fe2O3-CeO2-TiO2/ gamma-Al2O3 used as catalyst at room temperature and atmospheric pressure was also investigated, and the results show that the catalyst has an excellent catalytic activity in treating synthetic wastewater containing 500 mg/L methyl orange, and 98.09% of color and 96.08% of total organic carbon (TOC) can be removed in 2.5 h. The degradation pathway of methyl orange was analyzed by UV-vis and FT-IR spectra. The result of leaching tests shows the catalyst has an excellent stability with negligible leaching ions, and the leaching of Ce is effectively controlled by adding Ti, because Ce and Ti in the catalyst take the form of compound oxides, and the deactivation of the catalyst in successive runs is caused by the adsorption of intermediates on the surface and coverage of the active sites. The catalytic activity of the deactivated catalyst can be generally restored by rinsing it in hydrochloric acid followed by calcination. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.