The invention discloses a method for preparing alpha-acetyl-gamma-butyrolactone. The method comprises the following steps: adding ethyl acetate and sodium carbonate into a three-necked flask, dropwiseadding gamma-butyrolactone at the temperature of 44 to 46 DEG C, stirring, mixing the ethyl acetate and liquid aldehyde, dropwise adding a reaction solution, uniformly mixing, stirring and reacting for 1.5 to 2.5 hours at the temperature of 54 to 58 DEG C, adding the reaction solution into a high-pressure kettle, reacting for 5 to 6 hours at the temperature of 80 to 85 DEG C, cooling to room temperature, adding the reaction solution into a three-necked flask, dropwise adding sulfuric acid at 3 to 5 DEG C to adjust the pH to be 6 to 7, precipitating solids in the dropwise addition process, after the addition is ended, stirring for 11 to 13 hours, re-testing the pH which is unchanged, filtering to remove the solids, washing a filter cake by using ethyl acetate, performing the decompressionrotary evaporation, removing the ethyl acetate until no fraction is outputted, obtaining a crude product, and performing the direct decompression rectification for the crude product. The preparation method is easy in obtaining raw materials, cheap in raw materials, easy in operation, higher in yield, and suitable for industrialized production.