Using humic acid extracted from lignite as raw material,a copper-humic acid catalyst（Cu-HAs)was prepared by hydrothermal method,and the structure of the catalyst was characterized by FTIR,XRD,XPS,and SEM. The catalyst was used to catalyze the oxidation of benzyl alcohol. The preparation conditions of the catalyst,such as the ratio of copper acetate monohydrate to humic acid,aging temperature,aging time,etc.,were investigated,and the effects of different reaction conditions on the catalytic activity of the copper-humic acid catalyst for the oxidation of benzyl alcohol were discussed. The results show that the catalyst has good catalytic activity under the conditions of temperature 30 ℃ and aging time 3 h. The conversion of benzyl alcohol is 71% and the yield of benzaldehyde is 68.6%. When the reaction temperature increases to 110 ℃ and the reaction time is prolonged to 3 h,the conversion of benzyl alcohol can reach to 91.3%,and the yield of benzaldehyde can reach to 87.8%. The recyclability of the catalyst and the general applicability for different substrates were also investigated. The results shows that the yield and conversion of Cu-humic acid catalyst remain basically unchanged after 6 cycles,indicating that the catalyst can be reused and have good stability. The prepared catalyst can catalyze the selective oxidation of alcohols with different structures,and the yields can reach more than 90% for the different substrates under the optimized conditions.