The catalytic activity of various supported Ir–Re catalysts was investigated for the liquid phase reforming reaction of methanol. Although Ir/SiO 2 exhibited poor activity for the hydrogen production but the addition of Re enhanced the activity more than one order of magnitude, and reached to the comparable value of Pt–Ru/SiO 2 . The TOF of H 2 formation over Ir–Re/SiO 2 catalysts increased with the increase of Re/Ir ratio, accompanied with the increase of the particle sizes of Ir–Re composites. From the investigation of support effect, it was disclosed that CeO 2 and ZrO 2 enhanced catalytic activity of Ir–Re catalysts significantly.