The preparation of gold catalysts for liquid-phase glucose oxidation by the incipient wetness method was investigated. It could be shown that this preparation method is a good alternative to preparation with deposition-precipitation. TEM analysis revealed that it is possible to prepare small gold particles with particle size <2 nm by incipient wetness, even at high gold loadings. In glucose oxidation, the catalysts are very similar in terms of activity, selectivity and long-term stability to those prepared by deposition-precipitation with urea as the precipitation agent. From ecological and economical standpoints, the incipient wetness method has some advantages over the DP urea method. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.