SBA-15 supported noble metal catalysts for CO oxidation have been extensively investigated. However, no reported work on the SBA-15 supported palladium catalyst for CO oxidation can be found in the literature. In this work, highly dispersed palladium nanoparticles were synthesized within the uniform channels of SBA-15 via a glow discharge plasma reduction treatment. The obtained Pd/SBA-15 catalyst shows a good activity for CO oxidation. The activity can be further improved by the hydrogen reduction thermally. The low-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and transmission electron microscope (TEM) indicate that the ordered mesoporous structure was well maintained during the catalyst preparation and reaction processes. The wide-angle XRD patterns and TEM images show that the spherical palladium nanoparticles are highly dispersed within the SBA-15 channels and remain stable after the reaction. The diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transformation (DRIFT) spectroscopy of adsorbed CO confirms that the structure change caused by different preparation conditions has a significant influence on the activity of the catalyst. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.