On cold start operation of a gasoline engine, a catalyst shows poor performance before it reaches activation temperature. Therefore, fast warmup of the catalyst is very crucial to reduce harmful emissions. In this study, an appropriate control strategy is investigated to increase exhaust gas temperature through changes of exhaust valve timing. An advance of exhaust valve timing decreases residual gas in cylinders due to decrease of valve overlap period. A control strategy of proper valve timing is suggested in order to achieve fast light-off of the catalyst and stable operation of the engine in a cold start and idle operation.