In order to crack the tar from biomass pyrolysis, five cordierite-supported monolithic catalysts with different Ni/Co ratio were prepared by vacuum wetness impregnation. All catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). XRD and XPS characterization results show the inexistence of spinel structure such as NiAl 2 O 4 and CoAl 2 O 4 . TPR characterization results suggest the possible formation of Ni–Co alloy. BET characterization results show that the effect of Ni/Co ratio on catalyst specific surface area is obvious. The catalytic test results show that the performance of bimetallic catalyst is better than that of monometallic catalyst. The Ni 3 Co 1 /cordierite catalyst exhibits the best catalytic performance among all bimetallic catalysts, its tar conversion and gas yield reach 96.4% and 1.21 Nm 3 /kg, respectively, at a weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 1.4 h −1 .