The invention provides a low-load palladium-platinum core-shell structure catalyst. The catalyst is prepared through the following method that a Pd precursor and propylene carbonate are mixed, stirring for reacting is carried out for 1 h to 5 h in the hydrogen atmosphere of 1 MPa to 4 MPa under the room temperature condition, and a solution containing Pd nano particles is obtained; a Pt precursor is added into the obtained solution containing the Pd nano particles, stirring for reacting is carried out for 1 h to 5 h in the hydrogen atmosphere of 1 MPa to 4 MPa under the room temperature condition, and a solution containing core-shell structure active components is obtained; the obtained solution containing the core-shell structure active components and a carrier Al2O3 are mixed, stirring is carried out for 4 h to 48 h, suction filtration is carried out, a filter cake is subjected to vacuum drying, and a finished product is obtained. According to the synthesis method of the catalyst, raw materials are easy to obtain and can be reused, waste gas and waste water are not generated, the environmental cost is low, scaling up can be easily carried out for industrial production, the activity of the prepared catalyst is higher than that of a catalyst obtained according to an existing method, stability is good, and the catalyst can be applied to a methylbenzene catalytic oxidation reaction.