A highly dispersed Cu catalyst supported on silica was prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation method with citric acid. The synthesis was studied by nitrogen physisorption, X-ray diffraction, and temperature-programmed reduction by comparing with a reference prepared without citric acid. The catalyst precursor obtained after impregnation was X-ray amorphous. The precursor was readily transformed to crystalline CuO upon calcination. The CuO particles were of uniform size in a highly dispersed state and can be reduced to Cu at a lower temperature. The activity of the Cu catalyst obtained was an order of magnitude higher than that of the reference for the hydrogenolysis of methyl laurate to dodecanol.