The invention discloses a preparation method of an adhesive with a low formaldehyde release amount, and belongs to the technical field of organic adhesives. The preparation method comprises the following steps of grinding titanium dioxide, activated carbon and silica into particles of which particle sizes are nano-scale, afterwards, putting, together with phenolic resin, into a reaction kettle, heating to 80 to 110 DEG C, and uniformly agitating; next, adding methylcellulose, turpentine, asbestos powder, acetone, ethanol and polyvinyl alcohol into the reaction kettle, heating to 250 to 260 DEGC, and reacting for 1 to 3 hours. According to the preparation method, mainly through adding the titanium dioxide, the activated carbon and the silica and utilizing the characteristic that the titanium dioxide, the activated carbon and the silica have oxidation-reduction effects and adsorption and conversion effects on free formaldehyde, the formaldehyde release amount of the product adhesive isaccordingly decreased and the purpose of solving the problem that conventional phenolic resin glue is high in formaldehyde release amount is achieved.