The invention provides a catalyst for continuously producing butanedioic anhydride by maleic anhydride hydrogenation. The catalyst is a nickel loaded catalyst prepared by an equivalent-volume impregnation method, wherein in the catalyst, the content of nickel is 13 to 20 weight percent, the content of accelerating agent is 1 to 7 weight percent, and a carrier is a composite oxide of SiO2 and Al2O3 or SiO2-Al2O3. A preparation method for the catalyst comprises the following steps: impregnating impregnation solution blended by ammonia water and active metal salt solution on a carrier subjected to baking pretreatment at a temperature between 400 and 800 DEG C by the equivalent-volume impregnation method to form the catalyst through drying, baking and reducing treatment. The catalyst is applied to continuously preparing the butanedioic anhydride by maleic anhydride hydrogenation on a fixed bed reactor, the conversion rate of maleic anhydride is more than or equal to 99.98 percent, and theselectivity of the butanedioic anhydride is more than or equal to 98.85 percent. The catalyst achieves the technical-scale continuous production of the butanedioic anhydride, and has the advantages of high activity, good selectivity, high yield (more than or equal to 98.83 percent) and long service life.