The invention relates to the field of lignin degradation, in particular to a nickel-cerium biochar catalyst and a preparation method and application thereof.The nickel-cerium biochar catalyst comprises biochar serving as a carrier and active components loaded on the biochar, and the active components comprise nickel and cerium; the content of nickel is 1-10 wt.%, the content of cerium is 1-10 wt.%, and the balance is charcoal. According to the application, the nickel-cerium biochar catalyst is applied to catalytic depolymerization of lignin. According to the nickel-cerium biochar catalyst, the raw material for preparing the biochar is lignin, the lignin widely exists in the nature, is low in obtaining cost, can be regenerated, can effectively reduce the depolymerization cost and is suitable for large-scale industrial application, and the nickel-cerium biochar catalyst is matched with a crude glycerine system, so that the nickel-cerium biochar catalyst is of great benefit to green utilization of an industrial byproduct crude glycerine, and is suitable for large-scale industrial application. The lignin depolymerization efficiency is high, the conversion rate of the lignin can reach 78% or above, the selectivity of guaiacol and derivatives thereof exceeds 82%, and the selectivity of the monomer guaiacol exceeds 41%.