Ethanol adsorption, desorption and decomposition on Rh(111) have been studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and tem-perature-programmed desorption experiments. The evolution of the C is and O is core level spectra was monitored as a function of ethanol exposure and surface temperature. Ethanol adsorption at 90 K results in two nonequivalent ethanol-adsorbed species at low surface coverage, while a third species--related to multilayer formation--appears after longer exposures. Upon surface annealing, ethanol undergoes both desorption and dissociation, thus creating intermediate surface species which further decompose to hydrogen, carbon monoxide and atomic carbon. Our results clearly show that C--C bond cleavage is the preferential dissociation channel, while C--O bond scission is not observed. Calculations performed within the framework of the unity bond index-quadratic exponent potential model, have been used to test and compare different competing dissociation channels, providing an estimate of adsorption energies and dissociation barriers.