Herein, six kinds of PdNPs (including icosahedron, sphere, spindle, cube, rod, and wire) were synthesized via simple methods. The catalytic activities were investigated by the reduction reaction of Cr(VI) and Suzuki coupling reaction. Chemically synthesized morphologies of the six catalysis were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction, etc. Pd icosahedron shows a better catalytic property than other PdNPs with a rate constants 0.42 min−1 for the reduction of Cr(VI). Moreover, the electrocatalyst shows that Pd icosahedron possesses a bigger surface area of 8.56 m2/g than other nanoparticles, which is attributed to the better catalyst. The Pd icosahedron possesses a better catalytic property, attributing to the abundant exposed {111} facets with high activity on Pd icosahedron. The catalytic activities are closely related to the surface area with the following order: icosahedrons ≥ sphere > rod > spindle > cube > wire. The Pd icosahedron catalyst represents a strong activity for Suzuki coupling reaction as well, outweighting is 80%. The results reveal that Pd icosahedron acts as an efficient catalyst compared to other PdNPs (wire, rod, sphere, spindle, and cube).