Three kinds of Ru/CeO2 catalysts were prepared. The mobility of the oxygen on Ru and their catalytic activity in the wet oxidation of acetic acid was investigated. Ru was present in the form of RuO2, and TPR experiment showed that the reaction, RuO2 + 2H(2) --> Ru + 2H(2)O, took place in different temperature ranges depending upon the kind of the catalysts. The catalyst with easily reducible oxygen on Ru had high activity in wet oxidation, and the importance of the release of oxygen from Ru to the reactant was suggested.