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Abstract Harnessing renewable electricity to drive the electrochemical reduction of CO₂is being intensely studied for sustainable fuel production and as a means for energy storage. Copper is the only monometallic electrocatalyst capable of converting CO₂to value-added products, e.g., hydrocarbons and oxygenates, but suffers from poor selectivity and mediocre activity. Multiple oxidative treatments have shown improvements in the performance of copper catalysts. However, the fundamental underpinning for such enhancement remains controversial. Here, we combine reactivity, in-situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, and computational investigations to demonstrate that the presence of surface hydroxyl species by co-electrolysis of CO₂with low concentrations of O₂can dramatically enhance the activity of copper catalyzed CO₂electroreduction. Our results indicate that co-electrolysis of CO₂with an oxidant is a promising strategy to introduce catalytically active species in electrocatalysis.