CO preferential (PROX) and total (TOX) oxidation were studied over Pt and Pt0.5Co0.5 nanopowders. Pt0.5Co0.5 exhibited much higher CO PROX performance than Pt, being highly active and selective at 0–80 °C. Low-temperature activity in CO oxidation was shown to be the key feature of bimetallic Pt-Co catalysts in comparison with monometallic Pt. Density functional theory calculations of the oxidation of CO on Pt13 and Pt12Co clusters revealed that a better catalytic activity of bimetallic cluster is due to an electronic effect: the calculated atomic charges on platinum atoms change when cobalt is introduced into its composition.