<p>Hemicellulose is composed of xylan polymer which on hydrolysis gives xylose. Xylitol is synthesized from xylose through hydrogenation reaction. Several catalysts have been synthesized and studied to selectively yield xylitol. However, there exists a gap in the interactive parametric and optimization as well as kinetic studies for catalysts which synthesize xylitol with high yield. To narrow this gap, this work focuses on the interactive parametric and optimization study using the response surface methodology (RSM) over a mixed oxide supported ruthenium catalyst. Box–Behnken design (BBD) was employed to obtain the optimized conditions for three factors studied at three levels and two responses. The BBD developed model was corroborated by the experimental data generated. The study of power-law kinetics using Arrhenius equation confirmed that hydrogenation reaction of xylose to xylitol followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The activation energy required for successful conversion of xylose to xylitol over Ru/NiO-TiO₂ catalyst was 14.04&#xa0;kJ/mol.</p>