The invention relates to a rare-earth-based SCR denitration catalyst and a preparation method thereof, and belongs to the technical field of environmental catalysis. The catalyst is a denitration catalyst which is compounded from CeO2 and TiO2 at the medium and low temperature, the active component of the catalyst is cerium dioxide, the carrier is titanium dioxide, and the assistant is transition metal and rare earth metal oxide; and the structural formula of the catalyst is CeO2-MOx/TiO2, CeO2/Mox-TiO2 or CeMTiOy, wherein M is one or several kinds of compounds selected from Al, Si, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Sn, Sb, La, Pr, Nd, Sm and W, x ranges from 1 to 3 and y ranges from 2 to 5. The invention has the advantages that no toxic substance V2O5 is used in the catalyst, the catalyst has good NO(i) x(/i) conversion rate, N2 selectivity and NH3 conversion rate in the range of 200-500 DEG C, the SO2 conversion rate is small, the H2O and alkali metal poisoning prevention capability is superior to that of commercial vanadium-titanium catalysts.