The invention discloses a production method of 2,2'-dimethyl[1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-diamine. According to the production method of the 2,2'-dimethyl[1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-diamine, with 3-nitrotoluene as aninitial raw material, reduction is conducted at first to obtain 3,3'-dimethylhydrazo-benzene, and then rearrangement is conducted to obtain the 2,2'-dimethyl[1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-diamine; reduction isconducted with Pd/C as a main catalyst and an anthraquinone compound plus sodium di(2-ethyl-hexyl)sulfosuccinate as cocatalysts; and the anthraquinone compound is one or two of 1,4-dihydroxyanthraquinone, 2-hydroxyanthraquinone and 2,6-dihydroxyanthraquinone. According to the production method of the 2,2'-dimethyl[1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-diamine, through a large number of experiments, it is found that by combining the sodium di(2-ethyl-hexyl)sulfosuccinate and the anthraquinone compound as the cocatalysts, the reaction selectivity of production of the 3,3'-dimethylhydrazo-benzene through reduction of the 3-nitrotoluene can be greatly improved, and the reaction yield which is 70% or above can be obtained finally, so that conditions are created for mass application of the 2,2'-dimethyl[1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-diamine on the aspect of production of special materials.