A series of active carbon supported ruthenium based catalysts, promoted by alkali and alkaline earth nitrate, are prepared by impregnation method and with RuCl 3·3H 2O as precursor. Effects of support, promoter and preparation conditions on catalytic activity are discussed. The catalytic activity is evaluated with a fixed bed micro reactor at lower pressure. The results show that the impregnation sequence affects the catalytic activity obviously. Ba Ru K/C is the preferred impregnation sequence. And effects of nature, producing area and pre treatment of the support on catalytic activity are also examined. Catalytic activity increases with the amount of Ru deposited on the support, it attains maximum when Ru loading is 8%. Optimal molar ratio of promoter to Ru is 10. A series of active carbon supported ruthenium based catalysts, promoted by alkali and alkaline earth nitrate, are prepared by impregnation method and with RuCl 3 · 3H 2O as precursor. Effects of support, promoter and preparation conditions on catalytic activity are discussed. The catalytic activity The results show that the impregnation sequence affects the catalytic activity obviously. Ba Ru K / C is the preferred impregnation sequence. And effects of nature, producing area and pre treatment of the support on Catalytic activity increases with the amount of Ru deposited on the support, it attains maximum when Ru loading is 8%. Optimal molar ratio of promoter to Ru is 10.