Alumina-, titania- and zirconia-supported iron oxides with an Fe loading of 5 wt.-% have been prepared by direct reduction of the precursors from incipient wetness impregnation and used for the synthesis of C 2 + -hydrocarbons from CO 2 and H 2 . According to the conversion of CO 2 , the catalytic activity decreases in the following order: Fe/TiO 2 (B) ∼ Fe/ZrO 2 (B) > Fe/TiO 2 (A) > Fe/ZrO 2 (A) > Fe/Al 2 O 3 . XRD, Raman, Mossbauer and EXAFS analyses are employed for the characterization of the catalysts following the reduction treatment. The results suggest that conversion of CO 2 to hydrocarbons is favored by the simultaneous presence of both zerovalent irons and coordinatively unsaturated cationic irons, among which ferric ions are for the Fe/ZrO 2 (B) and ferrous ions for the Fe/TiO 2 (B).