Laser resonance ionization spectroscopy (RIS) is an excellent technique for investigating the complicated atomic structure of heavy elements especially in their higher-energy region. In order to obtain the optimal photoionization scheme of cerium atom, odd-parity high-lying states were studied using this technique. The 83 odd-parity high-lying levers have been firstly observed by two-step resonance laser excitation followed by non-resonance photoionization in the 32,042-34,575 cm-1 energy region. These high-lying states have been measured. The possible angular momentum quantum numbers J are assigned for these levels.