A high temperature resistant alumina with high specific surface area was prepared by sol-gel method. XRD,TEM,XPS and surface analysis method were used to study the effect of dopant lanthanum on the alumina.The results showed that lanthanum ion could suppress alumina transition to α-phase and then inhibit alumina from sintering and the thermal stability of the Al 2O 3 was improved. Different ratios of La/Al had different effects on the specific surface area of Al 2O 3.The Al 2O 3 containing 1.0 mol/% lanthanum has a BET specific surface area of 71.8 m 2/g after calcination for 32 hours at 1*#100℃, whereas the undoped Al 2O 3 only had a BET specific surface area of 10 m 2/g under similar conditions.