An efficient method to enhance the catalytic properties of Zn-ferrite catalyst in the oxidative dehydrogenation of n-butene to 1,3-butadiene is proposed. The incorporation of phosphorous compound in Zn-ferrite is very effective to improve the catalytic activity as well as to maintain extremely long useful lives at high oxygen to n-butene ratio. It is found that the amount of phosphorous is critical and the presence of appropriate amount of phosphorous in catalyst may contribute the catalyst stabilization by which unfavorable reduction of Fe 3? sites to Fe 2? is effectively suppressed. This suggests that the oxygen mobility is maintained as high as the redox mechanism keeps constantly working. On the other hand, the effort to increase the population of mobile oxygen species by the introduction of external oxygen donor phase is found to be rather ineffective regardless of the external donor oxides used.