The interaction of gold with CeO2 layers was investigated using photoelectron spectroscopy. 65 nm thick Au doped CeO2 layers were deposited by rf-magnetron sputtering on a Si(0 0 1) substrate by using a composite CeO2-Au target. The film thickness and surface morphology were determined by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM).The laboratory XPS and synchrotron radiation soft x-ray and hard x-ray photoemission were used to characterize the sample properties and chemical composition