A series of magnesia doped CuOxCeO2-δ catalysts were prepared by co-precipitation followed by impregnation method and investigated for CO oxidation.The manuscript is devoted to explaining the role of MgO for the formation of active species on the CuOxCeO2-δ surface.The improvement in catalytic activity is ascribed to the formation of various active species due to the interaction of magnesia with CuOxCeO2-δ.The catalysts were characterized by PXRD,N2 adsorption,H2-TPR,XPS,SEM,EDS and HRTEM techniques.The Mg doped catalyst shows lattice expansion of ceria due to the formation of smaller Ce3+species with oxygen vacancies.The Mg-O bond also takes part in CO activation and oxidation,which results in the increase of CO oxidation.The Mg doped CuOxCeO2-δ catalyst shows improvement in low temperature activity compared with the CuOxCeO2-δ.