The invention relates to a method for preparation of low carbon alcohol by hydrogenolysis of sugar and sugar alcohol. The method adopts sugar and sugar alcohol as the raw materials, takes one or more than two of iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, tin, platinum, ruthenium, palladium, iridium and other transition metals as the catalyst active component, and employs a rare earth oxide like promethium oxide, gadolinium oxide, terbium oxide, holmium oxide, erbium oxide, thulium oxide, cerium oxide, lanthanum oxide, praseodymium oxide, neodymium oxide, scandium oxide, yttrium oxide, dysprosium oxide, europium oxide, samarium oxide, ytterbium oxide, lutecium oxide and the like as the assistant. Under a temperature of 150-320DEG C and an H2 pressure of 1-20MPa, catalytic hydrocracking is carried out in a water solution to obtain ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, glycerol and other low carbon alcohols. The method provided by the invention has the advantages that: the rare earth oxide is added as the assistant to realize hydrocracking of sugar and sugar alcohol, rare earth oxides are insoluble in water and easy to separate, and at the end of reaction, the reaction system has no need for additional acid to neutralize.