The article reports that in the last two decades X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) has increasingly been applied to the study of fuel cell catalysts and, in particular, Pt containing catalysts for use in low temperature fuel cells. The increasing use of XAS may be attributed to its unique potential to provide information regarding the oxidation state and local coordination, numbers and identity of neighbors, of the absorbing atom. The advantage of XAS over other characterization methods, such as XPS or SEM/EDAX, lies in the ability to conduct the measurements in situ, in environments that closely mimic those of a working fuel cell.