New types of S 2 O 8 2-/Al-x wt%Ce-Zn-O solid acid catalysts were prepared by the sol-gel method. Their catalytic performances for the synthesis of n-butyl acetate from acetic acid and n-butanol were investigated. The characterization of prepared catalysts was performed using XRD, IR, TG-DSC and SEM. The experimental results showed that the S 2 O 8 2-/Al-2.5 wt%Ce-Zn-O solid acid catalyst exhibited an optimal esterification performance with 98.71% esterification efficiency under the optimum synthesis conditions. Moreover, the S 2 O 8 2-/Al-2.5 wt%Ce-Zn-O solid acid catalyst retained its high activity with above 95% esterification efficiency after being used repeatedly for seven times, which indicated that the S 2 O 8 2-/Al-2.5 wt%Ce-Zn-O solid acid catalyst had excellent stability.