The effect of preparation method on the properties of alumina modified by La2O3 and BaO was investigated by means of Low temperature nitrogen adsorption-desorption, NH3-TPD, NO-TPD and XRD. The results show that alumina prepared by peptizing method exhibits the best textural properties, alumina obtained by co-precipitation method presents the strongest surface acidity and alumina derived from impregnation method shows the best ability of NO adsorption. After calcination at 1 100 ℃, all alumina except that from impregnation method have excellent thermal stability. When the specific surface area and pore volume of alumina are large enough, the activity of catalyst Pd/alumina is affected primarily by the surface acidity of alumina.