In order to improve the catalytic performance of supported metal catalysts, a kind of supported copper-based catalyst (CuO/SiO2) were prepared with silica as the carrier. The structure of the catalyst was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The activities of different catalysts in the catalytic hydrogenation of aromatic nitro compounds were investigated. The results showed that under the conditions of room temperature and atmospheric pressure, the conversion of 4-Nitrophenol(4-NP) reached 96.4% and the catalytic rate constant was 7.55×10-3s-1 after 8 minutes of CuO/SiO2 catalytic reaction. The activity of the catalyst did not decrease significantly after four cycles, and the conversion of 4-NP was not less than 95%.