The pyrolysis of Dachengzi oil shale (OS), Huadian City, China, was carried out in a stainless-steel cylindrical retort at 520 °C both in the absence and presence of catalyst under argon atmosphere to evaluate the catalytic effects of Fe 2 O 3 and CaCO 3 additives on the products yield and characteristics of non-condensable gases. The results showed that the catalyst significantly affected the reactivity of OS kerogen pyrolysis. The shale oil yield increased after adding the catalyst, especially Fe 2 O 3 , but the shale char yield decreased in the presence of the catalyst. The noncondensable gases yield rose in the CaCO 3-catalysed pyrolysis and declined upon the Fe 2 O 3-catalysed process, indicating that CaCO 3 had a more pronounced catalytic effect on the secondary reactions of oil vapors. In addition, the gaseous products obtained both with and without the catalyst had a higher volume content of CO 2 , CH 4 and H 2 , and a lower volume content of CO and C 2-C 4 hydrocarbons. The peak concentrations of CO 2 and H 2 increased in the presence of the catalyst, especially Fe 2 O 3 , while that of CO enhanced with addition of CaCO 3 as a catalyst. H 2 was generated at higher temperature compared to CO 2 and CO. Furthermore, Fe 2 O 3 and CaCO 3 exhibited different effects on the evolution of C 1-C 4 hydrocarbons. COS and H 2 S evolved almost simultaneously, the amount of H 2 S released being higher than that of COS. The peak concentrations of the said gases decreased with adding the catalyst, especially Fe 2 O 3. The non-condensable gases produced both before and after catalysis mainly consisted of CO 2 and CH 4 , and some minor gases, in terms of mass distribution. The mass contents of ethane, butane, CO 2 and H 2 increased after the use of the catalyst, while those of butane, H 2 S and COS decreased. Moreover, adding Fe 2 O 3 and CaCO 3 resulted in the decline in the ethene/ethane and propene/propane ratios, respectively, suggesting that different catalysts possibly led to different changes in the physical structure of oil shale and then caused the secondary reactions of pyrolysis products to proceed to different extents.