The performance of Fe-MnO2/CeO2, K-MnO 2/CeO2/ Palygorskite and Fe/ Palygorskite catalysts during the wet oxidative degradation of phenol in a stirred reactor has been evaluated. The experiments were run at 130°C, 20.4 atm., and with an initial phenol and catalyst mass concentration of 0.5 g/L and 5 g/L, respectively. The influence of iron loaded on the support (0, 3; 7 and 10%, m/m) and the initial pH of the reactant medium (3.1; 6.8; 8.7) were studied. The phenol degradation curves showed that the Fe+2//Palygorskite catalyst had the best performance toward the organic carbon conversion compared to the other catalysts. It was also found that by lowering the alkalinity of the reacting media favoured the phenol conversion and that the Palygorskite support showed higher resistance to the actions of the acids formed during the reaction.