The anodisation of aluminium monoliths was performed in order to generate an alumina layer that ensures a good adherence of the catalysts. In this study, it is demonstrated that the morphology of the produced alumina layer depends on time, temperature, current density and concentration of the selected electrolyte. When anodisation process with the extreme conditions was applied (30 degrees C, 50 min, 2A dm(-2) and 2.6 M of sulphuric acid) a significant cracks were obtained and used to fix the subsequent catalytic coatings. The washcoating method was used to cover the monoliths with colloidal solutions of CeO2 and/or Au-CeO2 catalysts. The resulting monolithic catalysts were tested in the CO oxidation reaction being 1%Au-CeO2 containing system the most active. The structured catalyst prepared this way changed neither the textural nor the catalytic properties of the deposited catalytic powders. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.