An immobilized ionic liquids/peroxotungstates/SiO₂ catalyst was prepared and characterized. The catalyst was proved to be very efficient for the selective oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols to their corresponding carbonyls with benign H₂O₂ as an oxidant in neat water. A 1.0 mol% (based on tungstate) dose of the catalyst was found to be sufficient for the oxidation. The catalyst is easily recovered after reaction via simple filtration, and was reused at least six times without a noticeable loss of the activity. A notable feature of this novel protocol is avoiding any organic co-solvent.