The invention relates to a preparation method of o-ethoxybenzoic acid, which comprises the following steps: adding salicylic acid, acetone and potassium hydroxide into a reaction bulb, dropwisely adding bromoethane while stirring at room temperature, heating under reflux for 9-15 hours, recovering the acetone under reduced pressure, adding water and liquid alkali, heating under reflux for 2-4 hours, cooling to room temperature, regulating the pH value to 3-4 with glacial acetic acid, cooling to 1-15 DEG C, separating by vacuum filtration, washing with water, and carrying out vacuum drying to obtain the o-ethoxybenzoic acid, wherein the salicylic acid:potassium hydroxide:bromoethane:liquid alkali mol ratio is 1:(2.0-2.5):(2.1-2.5):1.4. The method has the advantages of simple technique, low raw material cost, high yield and good quality, and is convenient to operate and convenient for industrial production.