Heterogeneous single-metal-site catalysts have been drawing increasing interests in the field of academy and industry because of the comparable catalytic activity with homogeneous catalyst and easy separation.Here, an efficiently heterogeneous single-site Rh catalyst on activated carbon (Rh 1 /AC) was constructed, which performs three times activity than the corresponding homogeneous catalyst for methanol carbonylation. Experimental data reveals that the apparent activation energy on the Rh 1 /AC catalyst is 0.91 eV, far less than 1.54 eV of its homogeneous counterpart. Ex situ EXAFS confirms the molecular configuration of a single Rh site. DFT calculation demonstrates that the electron-donating carbonyl group on the surface of the support possesses the precedence to accommodate the singlesite Rh ions. Furthermore, difference charge density verifies that the coordinative bond between a single metal ion and a carbonyl group enhances the electronic density of the central Rh atom, consequently lowering the energy barrier of the rate-determining step of CH 3 I oxidative addition. Together with the atomic dispersion, as well as the electronic interaction between a single Rh ion and carbonyl groups, the Rh 1 /AC catalyst performs superior activity than homogeneous systems.