Abstract: Cu/SiO₂, Fe/SiO₂ and Cu-Fe/SiO₂ were prepared by an incipient wetness technique using copper nitrate and iron nitrate as metal precursors, and these catalysts were used for the gas phase hydrogenation of acetic acid(AcOH) to produce ethanol and ethyl acetate. The total selectivity of ethanol and ethyl acetate is 93.5% when using the bimetallic Cu-Fe/SiO₂ catalyst under reaction conditions of 320℃, 2.0 MPa and LHSV_(AcOH)=0.6 h^-1, H₂/AcOH(mole)=5, which outperforms the Cu/SiO₂ and Fe/SiO₂ monometallic counterparts. Meanwhile, C3 products(propane, propylene, acetone and isopropanol), CO₂ and the incondensable components such as CH₄, CO, C₂H₆ and C₂H₄ are dramatically inhibited on the bimetallic catalyst. These catalysts were characterized by transmission electron microscopy(TEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD), hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction(H₂-TPR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). The result suggests that the synergetic effect between Cu⁰ and iron oxide species in the bimetallic catalyst contributes to the outstanding catalytic performance.