The invention discloses a preparation method of 2-hydroxyacetophenone. The preparation method comprises the steps: weighing phenol and acetyl chloride with the molar ratio of phenol to acetyl chloride of 1 to (1.0-1.5), adding phenol and acetyl chloride to a first organic solvent for reaction, carrying out a reaction at the temperature of 20-30 DEG C, then washing with a weak base, and drying and spin-drying to obtain phenyl acetate; adding Lewis acid and an ionic liquid in phenol acetate, wherein the mass of the ionic liquid is 3-10 times that of phenyl acetate, and the reaction temperature is 120-160 DEG C; hydrolyzing the obtained product with a hydrochloric acid solution, and extracting with a second organic solvent; and concentrating an organic layer, then adding a third organic solvent with the volume 1-2 times that of the organic layer, freezing the organic layer, filtering, repeating the operations for 2-3 times, and distilling the obtained filter cake to obtain the product 2-hydroxyacetophenone. The adopted raw materials are low in price, the experimental conditions are mild, the yield is high, the ortho-para ratio can reach 3.55:1, and the preparation method has a great application value in production.