Two thermal stable phases, Ce0.75Zr0.25O2 and Ce0.16Zr0.84O2, with different surface area were prepared by coprecipitation. The oxygen storage capacity (OSC) measurements were carried out at 500 degrees C under both transient (CO-O-2 cycle at 0.05, 0.1 and 0.25 Hz) and stationary reaction conditions (CO pulse). In the oxygen storage/release process, the rate-determine step is surface reactions when the specific surface area is lower than 60 m(2)/g. When the surface area increases further, the influence of surface area is less important. The increased surface area favors diesel soot catalytic combustion via providing more redox sites to activate adsorbed oxygen. Nevertheless, this effect is less important when the specific surface area is larger than 40 m(2)/g, especially under loose contact condition.