The invention provides a hydrophilic modification method of PVA to polyester fiber, which belongs to the high-molecular technical field. The method comprises the following steps: pretreating the polyester fiber by a sodium hydroxide solution with 3-10% of mass fraction for 1 hour, wherein the solid liquid ratio is 1: 50, flushing and drying the polyester fiber, then placing the polyester fiber in a reaction container filled with a PVA solution with 0.2-0.3% of mass fraction, then adding acetate, methanol and sulfuric acid according to volume ratio of 3: 2: 1 in the reaction container, wherein the volume fraction of acetate, methanol and sulfuric acid are 10% respectively, adding GA with 25% of mass fraction in the reaction container, wherein the mol ratio of GA to PVA is 1: 4, performing mechanical stirring and reacting for 1-2 hours under the temperature of 50-70 DEG C, washing by water after the reaction is completed, and drying. Through representation and determination, the surface of the modified polyester fiber uniformly contains PVA, the contact angle is less than 10-50 DEG, hydrophilcity of the polyester fiber is greatly improved, the effect is stable, and the polyester fiber can be widely used in the fields of regeneration resource papermaking, clothes, decoration and industry and agriculture.