The effect of the interaction between metal and support on the performance of different phases alumina supported nickel catalysts was demonstrated in liquid phase selective hydrogenation of isoprene in simulated gasoline. Catalysts supported on gamma-Al2O3 and kappa-Al2O3 were characterized by BET, XRD. TPR, and XPS techniques. The results showed that a "surface spinel". NiAl2O4 was formed. The supported nickel ions preferentially incorporate into the tetrahedral vacancies of gamma-Al2O3 support to form SMSI (strong metal-support interaction). while WMSI (weak metal-support interaction) was formed on kappa-Al2O3 support with little tetrahedral vacancy. When there were enough hydrogenation sites, the Ni/-gamma-Al2O3 catalysts with SMSI which can resist carbon deposition, performed higher isoprene conversion, higher stability and lower selectivity than the same nickel loading Ni/kappa-Al2O3 samples with WMSI. The weak interaction had a positive effect on the formation of coke, which was mainly related to the hydrogenolytic sites, leading to main reaction with high mono-olefins selectivity with isoprene conversion decrease evidently. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.