Magnetic nickel–ruthenium based catalysts on resin beads for hydrogen generation from alkaline NaBH 4 solutions were synthesized with combined methods of chemical reduction and electroless deposition. Factors, such as solution temperature, NaBH 4 loadings, and NaOH concentration, on performance of these catalysts on hydrogen production from alkaline NaBH 4 solutions were investigated. Furthermore, characteristics of these nickel–ruthenium based catalysts were carried out by using various instruments, such as SEM/EDS, XPS, SQUID VSM and BET. These catalysts can be easily recycled from spent NaBH 4 solution with permanent magnets owing to their intrinsic soft ferromagnetism and, therefore, reducing the operation cost of the hydrogen generation process. A rate of hydrogen evolution as high as ca. 400 mL min −1 g −1 could be reached at 35 °C in 10 wt% NaBH 4 solution containing 5 wt% NaOH using Ni–Ru/50WX8 catalysts. Activation energy of hydrogen generation using such catalysts is estimated at 52.73 kJ mol −1.