A chitosan-g-mTEG (methoxy triethylene glycol)- or mPEG (methoxy polyethylene glycol)-supported palladium (0) catalyst was prepared for the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction in water. The catalyst showed excellent catalytic activity in the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction without additional phase transfer reagents due to the enhanced solubility of the organic substrate by PEG grafting. In addition, the catalyst could be reused up to five times with the catalytic activity being recovered easily after simple manipulations. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.