It has been found that salicylic acid can be removal effectively at the lower temperature of 140 degrees C on perovskite-type oxide LaFeO3 catalyst in the catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) process. Under the same condition, the activities for the CWAO of phenol, benzoic acid and sulfonic salicylic acid have been also investigated. The results indicated that, with compared to the very poor activities for phenol and benzoic acid, the activities for salicylic acid and sulfonic salicylic acid were very high, which are attributed to their same intramolecular H-bonding structures. With the role of hard acidity of intramolecular H-bonding, salicylic acid and sulfonic salicylic, acid can be adsorbed effectively on the basic center of LaFeO3 catalyst and are easy to take place the total oxidation reaction. However, at temperatures higher than 140 degrees C, the intramolecular H-bonding structure of salicylic acid was destroyed and the activities at 160 and 180 degrees C decreased greatly, which confirms further the key role of intramolecular H-bonding in the CWAO. Moreover, the LaFeO3 catalyst also indicated a superior stability of activity and structure in CWAO of salicylic acid. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.