The present invention relates to a preparation method of pinoxaden, the steps are as follows: 2,6-diethyl-4-methylaniline is reacted with sandmeyer to obtain 2,6-diethyl-4-methylbromobenzene, and then mixed with Malononitrile is coupled under the catalysis of cuprous iodide to obtain 2,6-di-ethyl-4-methylphenylmalononitrile, and finally hydrolyzed in hydrogen peroxide solution to obtain 2,6-diethyl-4 ‑Methylphenylmalonamide; subsequent reaction with [1,4,5]‑oxadiazepine dihydrobromide in the presence of triethylamine to give 8‑(2,6‑diethyl‑ 4-methylbenzene)tetrahydropyrazol[1,2d][1,4,5]-oxadiazepine-7,9-dione, preferably reacted with pivaloyl chloride to obtain pinoxaden. The invention adopts a low-priced catalyst to reduce the production cost, and in addition, hydrogen peroxide-alkali is used as the hydrolysis system in the preparation process, which greatly reduces environmental pollution.