Catalysts for direct soot oxidation in catalyzed diesel particulate filters (CDPFs) consist typically of various mixed oxide compositions (frequently with CeO2 as the dominant component) that assist soot oxidation by enhancing the supply of oxygen from the catalyst to the soot. Apart from the composition, the material morphological characteristics may also contribute to the catalytic activity and this is the motivation for the present study. Different CeO2 nanoparticle catalysts have been obtained employing aerosol-based synthesis (ABS) and sol–gel methods. The obtained catalyst particles have been characterized with respect to their physical and morphological properties as well as with respect to their catalytic soot oxidation activity. The results have been analyzed with the aid of a multi-population kinetics model where soot is found to consist of three fractions reacting with different activation energies, namely 120, 180, and 240 kJ/mol. The occurrence of these three fractions is attributed to the formation of distinct families of surface oxygen complexes (SOCs) on the carbon surface which are subsequently gasified and hence cause soot oxidation, in agreement with accepted mechanisms of soot oxidation in the literature. The CeO2 nanoparticles oxidize catalytically all three fractions of soot, but with different “enhancement factors,” while the activation energies during catalytic oxidation remain the same. A comparison of the catalytic pre-exponentials to those of plain soot shows, in most cases, enhancements, which for some catalysts, can be up to ∼4.5, 6.5, and 2 times larger than those of plain soot, reflecting the relative capacity of the catalyst to generate more of the respective SOCs. The developed approach provides a more detailed but tractable way to describe soot oxidation (plain and catalytic), which can be readily incorporated into simulations of actual emission control systems to increase their reliability.