A series of Ag/MnO2 nanorods with various loading amounts of Ag were fabricated and used for formaldehyde (HCHO) elimination. The obtained catalysts were characterized by means of N2 adsorption–desorption, SEM, TEM, XRD, H2-TPR, O2-TPD and XPS. As the optimal loading amount of Ag was 0.1%, the Ag/MnO2-r exhibited a superior catalytic performance for HCHO oxidation, on which the 100% conversion of HCHO was achieved at 80 °C. It has observed that the remarkable catalytic activity of 0.1% Ag/MnO2-r was mainly due to the better low-temperature reducibility and more abundant surface active oxygen species resulting from the strong metal-support interaction between Ag and MnO2.