High surface area cerium oxide was synthesized via the reverse microemulsion method and assessed for CO2 reduction to CO via reverse water gas shift. The resulted ceria nanoparticles (ca. 4 nm) were 100% selective to CO formation, while attaining a nearly equilibrium CO2 conversion at 600 °C. As compared to ceria synthesized by wet precipitation, the reverse microemulsion-synthesized ceria exhibited enhanced surface stability and a more stable catalytic performance (declining from 63% to 50% over 100 h on stream). No significant carbon formation was detected and a relatively small decline in conversion was related to the specific surface area reduction induced by the growth of ceria nanoparticles under the reaction conditions.