We have analyzed the frequency and properties of the nuclear activity in two samples of galaxies, with and without circumnuclear rings and spirals (CNRs). We discuss the relevance of the results in the framework of the AGN feeding processes and some results are: (i) bright companion galaxies seem not to be important for the appearance of CNRs, therefore these would be more related to intrinsic properties of the host galaxies or to minor merger processes; (ii) the proportion of strong bars in AGN galaxies with a CNR is higher than the expected rate of strongly barred AGN galaxies from the sample of Ho and co-workers; (iii) the incidence of Seyfert activity coeval with CNRs is clearly larger than the expected rate from the morphological distribution of the host galaxies; (iv) the rate of Sy 2 to Sy 1 in galaxies with CNRs is larger than the expected proportion for galaxies without CNRs; this proportion would be in the opposite sense as expected from the geometric paradigm of the classical unified model for AGNs, but supports a scenario where Sy 2 activity is linked to circumnuclear star formation.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html