The invention discloses a method for preparing progesterone by taking 1,4-androstenedione as a raw material, which comprises the following steps: 1) dissolving 1,4-androstenedione into an organic solvent, adding the acid of trimethyl orthoformate or triethyl orthoformate, and introducing nitrogen to protect the 1,4-androstenedione to synthesize the enol ether of 1,4-androstenedione, namely 3-methoxy-androstane 3,5-diene-20-ketone; and 2) dispersing (1-methoxy ethyl)-triphenylphosphine salt in a reaction medium, an organic solvent, adding alkali at low temperature, performing a Wittig reaction of the 3-methoxy-androstane 3,5-diene-20-ketone synthesized in the step 1), and purifying and crystallizing to obtain progesterone. By adopting the 1,4-androstenedione as the raw material, the method solves the problem that of lack in raw materials for synthesizing steroid drugs such as progesterone, and improves the utilization rate of 1,4-androstenedione and the yield of progesterone; the preparation process is simple.