The invention relates to a selective hydrogenation catalyst of aromatic aldehydes for refining of terephthalic acid. The selective hydrogenation catalyst is mainly used for solving the problems that the hydrogenation of 4-carboxy-benzaldehyde (called as 4-CBA for short) in the prior art mainly generates p-toluic acid (referred to as P-TA), the amount of hydrogen consumption is great and the operation cost is high. The selective hydrogenation catalyst adopts activated carbon as a carrier and is supported with one or more metals of palladium, ruthenium, nickel, zinc and copper, and the like; therefore, the technical proposal can better solve the problems and can be used in the industrial production for hydrogenation refining of the terephthalic acid.