Herein, a selective protocol for the complete removal of acetyl protecting groups from carbohydrate derivatives based on copper nanoparticles supported on activated carbon is presented. The deacetylation procedure occurs under neutral conditions, is applicable to a wide range of substrates and tolerates a variety of functional groups (e.g. azido, allyl and silyl groups). Quantitative yields of the deacetylated product were obtained for all evaluated derivatives using catalyst amounts between 1 and 10 mol%. As a special highlight, the dual behavior of the nanocatalyst in both deacetylation and click reactions is reported.