The invention provides a solid acid catalyst as well as a preparation method and an application of the solid acid catalyst. The catalyst is applied to the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation reaction to catalyze the conversion of cyclic ketones into lactones; the catalyst has the advantages of high active site utilization rate, good selectivity, good stability, and easy recycling. The solid acid catalyst is composed of two parts, namely the active ingredient of the catalyst and a carrier, wherein the carrier is zirconium hydrogen phosphate nanosheet; the active ingredient is one or the combination of several of lanthanum, yttrium, aluminum, neodymium, cerium, chromium, zinc, indium, tin, scandium, praseodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutetium metal ions; the molar ratio of the metal component to the zirconium hydrogen phosphate in the solid acid catalyst is (1: 5) to (5: 1).