AbstractAn interesting palladium‐catalyzed hydroxycarbonylation of aryl halides with the in‐situ generation of CO and H2O has been developed. CO was in‐situ generated from formic acid with acetic anhydride as the activator and H2O was in‐situ generated from acetic acid and alcohol esterification. A variety of benzoic acid derivatives were produced in moderate to good yields from the corresponding aryl halides. No additional water addition is required during the whole process.