Hydrodechlorination of carbon tetrachloride was performed at atmospheric pressure over Pd and Pt catalysts supported on various inorganic oxides (Al 2 O 3 , MgO, CeO 2 ) and obtained from different organometallic precursors (Pd(acac) 2 , [Pd(C 3 H 5 )Cl] 2 , Pt(acac) 2 and Pt(CH 3 CN) 2 Cl 2 . Generally, Pd-based catalysts show low conversion levels and high selectivity to C 1 -C 7 + hydrocarbons with a distribution that fits a typical Schulz-Flory mechanism for alkyl polymerization.On the other hand, Pt catalysts show high and stable activity, the major products are CHCl 3 and in lesser extent methane. Catalytic performances depend on the stability, under reaction conditions, of the metal phase, that could be related to the nature of chlorine species pre-adsorbed on catalysts. Owning to their superior catalytic performances, the structural modifications of Pt catalysts under reaction conditions were characterized by EXAFS spectroscopy.