CuO–ZnO–Al ₂ O ₃ catalysts were synthesized by two methods, sol–gel and co-precipitation syntheses. Al ₂ O ₃ was then substituted with other supports, such as ZrO ₂ , CeO ₂ and CeO ₂ –ZrO ₂ in order to have a better understanding of the support's effect. These catalysts containing 30 wt% of Cu were then tested for CO ₂ hydrogenation into methanol. The effect of reaction temperature and GHSV on the catalytic behaviour was also investigated. The best results were obtained with a 30 CuO–ZnO–ZrO ₂ catalyst synthesized by co-precipitation and calcined at 400 °C. This catalyst presents a good CO ₂ conversion rate (23%) with 33% of methanol selectivity, leading to a methanol productivity of 331 g _MeOH .kg _cata ⁻¹ ·h ⁻¹ at 280 °C under 50 bar and a GHSV of 10,000 h ⁻¹ .