The invention discloses a core-shell Ni / Co alloy and nitrogen-doped carbon-based wave-absorbing composite material and a preparation method thereof.The preparation method comprises the steps that firstly, a Ni / Co-MOF precursor is prepared through a simple hydrothermal reaction, and then the core-shell Ni / Co-C composite wave-absorbing material is obtained through high-temperature treatment in an argon inert environment; when the thickness of the composite wave-absorbing material is 3.5 mm, the frequency is 8.9 GHz, and the optimal effective wave-absorbing bandwidth (RL) value can reach-71.9 dB, RLlt; the effective wave-absorbing bandwidth of-10 reaches up to 16 GHz, S, C, X and Ku frequency bands are covered, and due to the fact that a core-shell structure with nickel and cobalt wrapped by carbon is formed, the material has good stability. The wave-absorbing material prepared by the method disclosed by the invention is environment-friendly, good in stability, relatively wide in wave-absorbing bandwidth, high in reflection loss, simple in process and suitable for large-scale production.