Vapor-phase dehydration of C4 unsaturated alcohols such as 3-buten-1-ol, 2-buten-1-ol and 3-buten-2-ol were performed to produce 1,3-butadiene over various solid catalysts including ordinary solid acid catalysts such as Al 2 O 3 , SiO 2-Al 2 O 3 , and TiO 2 and basic rare earth metal oxides such as Yb 2 O 3 and CeO 2. In the reaction of 3-buten-1-ol, 1,3-butadiene could not be selectively produced because the acid catalysts decomposed 3-buten-1-ol into propylene. In contrast to the acid catalysts, CeO 2 inhibited the decomposition of 3-buten-1-ol and showed a relatively high performance for the formation of 1,3-butadiene. In the dehydration of 2-buten-1-ol and 3-buten-2-ol, however, acid catalysts were effective for the formation of 1,3-butadiene. Among the tested catalysts, commercial SiO 2-Al 2 O 3 showed a relatively high catalytic performance, although it deactivated rapidly. We prepared a series of SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 catalysts by depositing SiO 2 species onto Al 2 O 3 support, and the SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 with a SiO 2 content of 10 wt.% showed more stable catalytic activity than the commercial SiO 2-Al 2 O 3. Furthermore, modification of SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 with Ag at a loading of 3-5 wt.% was found to be efficient for inhibiting the coke formation and improving the catalytic stability of SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 in the dehydration of both 2-buten-1-ol and 3-buten-2-ol under hydrogen flow conditions.