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Carbon xerogel, a mesoporous material, was produced by polycondensation of resorcinol and formaldehyde. A concentrated nitric acid solution was subsequently used to introduce high amounts of oxygenated groups on the surface. The carbon xerogel served as a support for Pt, Ir and Ru monometallic catalysts by using organometallic precursors. The catalysts were tested in the liquid-phase selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde to cinnamyl alcohol. The introduction of surface groups was important to increase metal dispersion but proved to limit selectivity towards the unsaturated alcohol. After a thermal treatment at 973 K the catalysts showed excellent thermal stability and a narrow metal size distribution. Regarding the catalytic results measured at 50% conversion, Pt catalysts exhibited the highest selectivity to cinnamyl alcohol (73 %) followed by Ir with 65 % and finally Ru with only 32 %.