Light aromatics (such as benzene, toluene, xylene, etc.) obtained from coal pyrolysis have significance for clean and efficient production of coal chemical industry. Based on commercial USY zeolite as the parent, this work investigates the types of acid, acid concentration on the influence of USY zeolite structure and coal catalytic pyrolysis performance. The texture and morphology of the modified zeolites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and N2 adsorption-desorption, and the effect of acid treatment on the pore structure of USY zeolite was studied. The catalytic cracking effect of the modified USY zeolite catalysts on the Shenfu coal was studied by Py-GC/MS. The results show that the crystallinity of USY zeolites decreases gradually with the increase of acid concentration. Under the condition of maintaining the skeleton integrity of the USY zeolites, the biggest impregnated HCl concentration is 0.4 mol/L, H2SO4 and H3PO4 is 0.2 mol/L. HCl modification can improve the average pore diameter and mesoporous volume of USY zeolite. The acid-leached USY zeolites 

are favorable for the formation of light aromatics, especially naphthalenes, in coal pyrolysis. HCl-USY-0.4 has the best catalytic effect, and the relative contents of benzenes, toluene, xylene and naphthalenes are 11.39%, 9.36%, 11.68% and 31.27%, respectively.