Graphical abstract Abstract Individual and simultaneous hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) of carbozole reactions have been studied in the presence of hydrogen (P=55 bar) at 310 ºC in a batch reactor over a series of sulfided NiMo/P/Al-HMS catalysts modified with phosphorus (0.5-2.0 wt.%). Both oxidic precursors and sulfide catalysts have been characterized by specific surface area, XRD, Raman, TPD-NH 3 , HRTEM, XPS and IR spectroscopy of adsorbed pyridine.Regardless of the reaction studied, all P-containing catalysts showed higher activity than that to the P-free one. The catalyst modified with optimized amount of P (1 wt.%) the best HDS activity and exhibited a lowest inhibition factor during simultaneous HDS and HDN, which was close to that of a commercial NiMo/Al 2 O 3 sulfide catalyst. This was linked with formation of irregular MoS 2 structures having high concentration of brim sites as well as with its largest total acidity.