The production of H2 pure enough for use in fuel cells requires the development of very efficient catalysts for the water–gas shift reaction. Herein, a series of gold catalysts supported on ZnO-promoted CeO2–Al2O3 are presented as interesting systems for the purification of H2 streams through the water–gas shift reaction. The addition of ZnO remarkably promotes the activity of an Au/CeO2/Al2O3 catalyst. This increase in activity is mainly associated with the enhanced oxygen storage capacity exhibited for the Zn-containing solids. High activity and good stability and resistance towards start-up–shut-down situations was found, which makes these catalysts a promising alternative for CO clean-up applications.