The mechanistic cause of enhancement of C 3 H 8 -SCR activity by addition of H 2 over Ag/Al 2 O 3 was investigated with in-situ FT-IR spectroscopy. Under a flow of NO + C 3 H 8 + O 2 , nitrates were mainly formed on Ag/Al 2 O 3 . An addition of H 2 into a C 3 H 8 -SCR atmosphere increased the concentration of surface acetate significantly, but decreased the concentration of surface nitrates. Formation and consumption rates of acetate and nitrates were estimated with transient in-situ IR measurement. By the addition of H 2 , both formation rates of acetate and nitrates were increased. Moreover, both consumption rates of nitrates in a flow of C 3 H 8 + O 2 and acetate in a flow of NO + O 2 were also increased by the addition of H 2 . From a comparison between the evolutions of adsorbed species (nitrate and acetate) and gaseous species (NO and C 3 H 8 ), it was clarified that the NO reduction activity is controlled by partial oxidation of C 3 H 8 to mainly surface acetate. The addition of H 2 results in remarkable promotion of partial oxidation of C 3 H 8 to mainly surface acetate, which is the rate-determining step of C 3 H 8 -SCR in the absence of H 2 .