The invention relates to a selective nickel hydrogenation catalyst and a method for preparing the same. In the method, alumina is taken as a carrier. The catalyst is characterized in that the catalystcomprises the following active components in weight percentage: 14 to 20 percent of nickel oxide, 2 to 8 percent of lanthanum oxide and/or cerium oxide, 1 to 8 percent of VIB oxide auxiliary agent, 2to 8 percent of silicon dioxide and 1 to 8 percent of alkaline earth oxide; and, the specific surface area of the catalyst is between 60 and 150m<2>/g, and the pore volume is between 0.4 and 0.6ml/g.The catalyst has good hydrogenation performance, particularly the anti-impurity and anti-colloid performances, and the catalyst also has good hydrogenation stability performance, so that the catalystis applied to the selective hydrogenation of diene of medium and low cut oil, particularly the selective hydrogenation of diolefin of full cut cracked gasoline.