Surface and interface morphology of cerium oxide/carbon bilayers used as thin-film catalysts is studied by grazing-incidence small-angle x-ray scattering, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic-force microscopy, and the dependence of the structural parameters on the thicknesses of the constituting layers is investigated. The applicability of x-ray scattering and its advantages over standard analytical methods are discussed. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4773446]