The invention discloses a preparation method and an 
activation method of a 
Raney nickel-aluminum-X catalyst specially for hydrogenation preparation of 1,4-
butanediol from 1,4-butynediol. The 
Raney nickel-aluminum-X catalyst is characterized in that a 
mass ratio of 
nickel to aluminum is (0.5 to 1): 1; X of which 
mass is 0.1 to 2% of total 
mass of 
nickel and aluminum is adopted; and X represents Mg, B, Sr, Cr, S, Ti, La, Sn, W, Mo or Fe. The preparation method comprises the following steps of putting 
nickel, aluminum and X into a 
medium frequency induction 
smelting furnace according to the 
mass ratio, carrying out 
smelting, pouring out melt, cooling, crushing, and 
grinding to obtain 
powder which is the 
Raney nickel-aluminum-X catalyst. The 
activation method comprises the following steps that an alkali solution and the Raney nickel-aluminum-X catalyst which is 
powder are uniformly mixed according to a 
mass ratio of (2: 1) to (10: 1) and then undergo a reaction with stirring, wherein the alkali solution is a 
sodium hydroxide or 
potassium hydroxide solution having a concentration of 5 to 25wt%; after the reaction is finished, the reaction products are washed by 
distilled water and 
anhydrous ethanol until a pH value of the reaction products is 7; and the reaction products having a pH value of 7 are preserved in 
ethanol. In the presence of the Raney nickel-aluminum-X catalyst, in hydrogenation preparation of 1,4-
butanediol from 1,4-butynediol, a conversion rate is in a range of 98 to 100% and selectivity of 1,4-
butanediol is in a range of 90 to 98%.