In this work gold nanoparticles supported over three different metal oxides, TiO2, ZnO and Al2O3 were characterized by BET surface area and pore size distribution, XRD, XPS and TEM techniques and their catalytic performances were evaluated in the total oxidation of propene, chosen as model VOC molecule. Attention was focused on the evaluation of the catalytic activity by performing three consecutive catalytic runs. Characterizations by XPS and TEM were carried out on the spent catalysts after propene oxidation tests. The results were discussed in terms of relationship between morphological, structural, electronic and catalytic properties as a function of the nature of the support. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.