Porous aluminum fluoride‐supported noble metallic catalysts used for hydrodechlorination were investigated in the hydrodechlorination of 1‐chloroheptafluorocylopentene (F7‐1). The catalysts. Rh/porous aluminum fluoride (PAF) and Ru/PA.F were deactivated, and the activities of Pd/PAF and Pt/PAF reduced within 100 h. The above catalysts were characterized by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. The characterization results indicated that the formation of noble metal chlorides, loss of active components, and carbonaceous deposition are the major causes of activity reduction or catalyst deactivation. The formation of aluminum chlorofluoride is also likely to have led to the decrease in the selectivity of the 1,1,2,2,3,3,4‐heptafluorocyclopentane (F7A) catalyst. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.