The invention discloses a system and a method for testing the catalyst dehydrogenation performance, and belongs to the field of catalytic reaction engineering. The system comprises a hydrogen gas cylinder, a pressure reducing valve, a mass flowmeter, a check valve, an air compressor, a buffer tank, a first electric control valve, a first vortex precession flowmeter, a mixed gas distribution pipe, a catalytic reactor, a second electric control valve, a second vortex precession flowmeter, a first pressure transmitter, a first thermoelectric couple, a first hygrometer, a second pressure transmitter, a second thermoelectric couple, a second hygrometer and a data acquisition and control system. The method is characterized in that the variation of temperatures, pressures, hydrogen contents and relative humidity at an inlet and an outlet of the catalytic reactor along with time is recorded through the data acquisition and control system. The system and the method, disclosed by the invention, can simulate the design basis accident state of a nuclear power station containment accurately.