The invention provides a method for preparing a TiO2-loaded rhodium-based catalyst of ethyl alcohol through an acetic acid hydrogenation method. Titanium dioxide serves as a carrier, rhodium or a rhodium oxide serves as a main catalyst, and metal or an oxide of the metal serves as an auxiliary catalyst. The preparation method is a deposition-precipitation method including the steps that an alkaline solution is added dropwise into a mixed solution composed of rhodium and M salt to form precipitate, then the carrier, namely titanium dioxide, is added and evenly stirred for a certain period of time, and precipitate matter is adsorbed on the carrier, namely titanium dioxide; then the product is filtered and washed to filter away impurities therein; drying and sintering are conducted to obtain a titanium-dioxide-loaded metal oxide. A hydrogenation reaction is conducted in a tubular fixed bed reactor, the catalyst is reduced in a reductive atmosphere, and a high conversion rate and selectivity can be obtained by controlling temperature, pressure, volume space velocity, hydrogen-acid ratio and other parameters of the reaction. The preparation method is simple, repeatability is high, the catalytic effect is good, and the catalyst is an ideal industrial catalyst for preparing ethyl alcohol through an acetic acid hydrogenation method.