Abstract: The hydrodesulfurization of dibenzothiophene over physically separated Ni₂P//MoS₂ catalyst beds was investigated.The results indicated that the hydrogen spillover effect appears between the Ni₂P/Al₂O₃ and MoS₂/Al₂O₃ catalysts in the hydrodesulfurization reaction, which can significantly enhance the concentration of active sites and the hydrodesulfurization rate over the MoS₂ catalyst. The spillover factor on Ni₂P//MoS₂is slightly higher than that on NiS_x//MoS₂, due to the higher hydrogen dissociation activity of Ni₂P; as a result, Ni₂P is a superior promoter to NiS_x for the MoS₂ catalyst.