<p>An electrothermal monolithic catalyst of in-site growing manganese-cobalt composite oxide (MnO_x-CoO_x) active component on the Ni foam (NF) substrate was prepared by an one-step composite electrodeposition method. And the MnO_x-CoO_x/NF catalyst was investigated in a special electrothermal toluene catalytic oxidation (ETCO) strategy by direct utilizing the internal Joule heating from the catalyst itself. Compared to the conventional toluene catalytic oxidation (CTCO) strategy, the catalyst in the ETCO strategy can significantly reduce the total electric power consumption over 50 times, exhibiting superior energy utilization efficiency. In addition, the catalyst in the ETCO strategy reaction can decrease about 60 ℃ of reaction temperature for achieving 90% toluene conversion in contrast to the CTCO reaction. According to the characterization results, the ETCO strategy can greatly enhance the concentration of Mn(II)/Co(III) oxidation states and chemically adsorbed oxygen species in catalyst, and promote the surface oxygen mobility and catalyst reducibility, thereby leading to the low-temperature complete oxidation of toluene.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>