The invention relates to a method for preparing 1,3-butadiene, and a catalyst is a transition metal-containing MFI type molecular sieve. A raw material ethanol is in contact with the catalyst in a fixed bed manner, and is converted into butadiene in one step, wherein the reaction temperature is 250 to 550 DEG C. One of transition metal components X is one or more of transition metals Zn, Ni, Fe, Cu, Ag and Au, and the other component Y is one or more of acidic or basic metals Mg, Zr, Y, Hf, La, Ce, Sn and In. The catalyst according to the invention has the advantages of simple preparation process, low cost and easy availability. The method achieves the purpose of preparing butadiene from ethanol at high conversion and high selectivity and has an obvious industrial application value for theprocess of preparing butadiene from ethanol.