Aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol produces benzaldehyde in highest yield and tolene as the major product with traces of benzoic acid, dibenzyl ether and benzyl benzoate. Metal catalysts have been designed to selectively oxidize benzyl alcohol to produce benzaldehyde and minimise the production of other by products. Pure gold nanoclusters have been examined to be effective catalysts for the selective oxidation of alohols, but doped gold clusters showed significant improvements in stability and selectivity, such as Pd and Cu. The choice of size of nanoparticle, support group and stabilizing ligand also influnces the rate of the conversion. The catalytic activity is significantly influenced by the proportion of the two metals in a ligand free, non-supported nanoclusters.