The invention discloses a catalyst for preparing alcohol through hydrogenation of acetic acid, and a preparation method of the catalyst. The catalyst is a multicomponent load catalyst and comprises ingredients a, b and c, and a carrier, wherein the ingredient a is one or more of calcium, potassium, sodium, barium, strontium, calcium oxide, potassium oxide, sodium oxide, barium oxide and strontium oxide; the ingredient b is one or more of tin, cobalt, molybdenum, nickel, iron, tin oxide, cobalt oxide, molybdenum oxide, nickel oxide and iron oxide; the ingredient c is one of platinum, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, platinum oxide, palladium oxide, ruthenium oxide and rhodium oxide; the carrier is silicon dioxide, cerium dioxide, titanium dioxide, graphite, aluminum oxide or active carbon; and the mass ratio of the ingredient a to the ingredient b to the ingredient c to the carrier is (1-20):(0.5-2):(0.5-1):100. The multicomponent load catalyst is prepared by a multistep impregnation method, and used for preparing alcohol through the hydrogenation of acetic acid, and results prove that the catalyst is excellent in catalytical performance, long in service life and high in reaction stability.