The invention belongs to the technical field of high molecular materials, and discloses a lignin / polyvinyl alcohol composite material and a preparation method thereof. The composite material comprisesthe following components by mass percentage: 70-99.4% of polyvinyl alcohol, 0.5-30% of lignin and 0.1-10% of additive, wherein the additive comprises at least one of 3-amino-1,2,4 triazole, 4-aminopyridine, 1-(3-aminopropyl) imidazole, 4-(2-ethylamino) benzene-1,2-diphenol, 2-amino-3-imidazolylpropionic acid, tannic acid, 3,3,3',3'-tetramethyl-1,1-helix biindolyl-5,5',6,6'-tetraol, zinc chloride,zinc acetate, ferric chloride, calcium chloride, copper chloride, iron oxide, and sodium chloride. The present invention also provides a composite material preparation method. The tensile strength ofthe lignin / polyvinyl alcohol composite material can reach up to 140 MPa, and the elongation at break of the lignin / polyvinyl alcohol composite material can reach up to 800%.