The invention discloses a method for preparing phenylacetone from phenylacetic acid, and belongs to the technical field of preparation of the phenylacetone. The method comprises the following steps: a, adding the phenylacetic acid, sodium acetate and acetic anhydride into an enamel reaction kettle, and uniformly stirring the phenylacetic acid, the sodium acetate and the acetic anhydride; b, heating the enamel reaction kettle till acetic acid is distilled off from the tower top of a distilling tower, and condensing substances, distilled from the distilling tower, through a plastic coiler to enable the substances to flow back into the enamel reaction kettle for reaction, thus obtaining reaction liquid; c, heating the reaction liquid, and distilling out the acetic acid and the acetic anhydride in sequence; d, cooling the reaction liquid to normal temperature, adding water, thus obtaining separation liquid, and performing standing layering on the separation liquid, thus obtaining first oil liquid on the upper layer; e, adjusting the pH value of the first oil liquid to be 12 through a sodium hydroxide solution, and performing alkaline hydrolysis, thus obtaining alkaline hydrolysis liquid; f, standing the alkaline hydrolysis liquid, thus obtaining second oil liquid on the lower layer; g, performing reduced pressure distillation on the second oil liquid, thus obtaining the phenylacetone. According to the method disclosed by the invention, by improvement on a production process of the phenylacetone, the prepared phenylacetone has the characteristics of low cost and high purity.