The present invention concerns a process of use of a copper and cobalt-containing catalyst for synthesizing saturated primary aliphatic alcohols. This process comprises a first step consisting in at least one catalyst prereduction by means of a gas mixture containing a reducing compound, a second step wherein the prereduced catalyst is contacted with a mixture of hydrogen and carbon oxides (CO, CO.sub.2) for at least 10 hours, so as to produce a mixture of alcohols; a third step wherein the catalyst obtained in the second step is subjected to a treatment with a gas mixture containing a single reducing gas, during about 1 to 400 hours and a fourth step of synthesizing saturated primary aliphatic alcohols from a mixture containing hydrogen and carbon oxides.Optionally the process also comprises an additional step consisting of subjecting the catalyst, whose activity and/or selectivity has been partially lost, to a new treatment according to the procedure defined for the third step.The process according to the invention is particularly applicable to catalysts containing copper, cobalt and optionally aluminum and/or zinc and/or sodium.