The invention relates to a preparation method of a zinc oxide varister, comprising two independent steps: preparing zinc oxide granules with doping ion components; and preparing a sintering material for coating the zinc oxide granules. According to the performance requirement of the varister, the doping components of the zinc oxide granules, the components of the high-impedance sintering materialand preparation conditions are prepared in advance; finally, the zinc oxide granules and the high-impedance sintering material are evenly mixed according to a certain proportion, and the zinc oxide varister is prepared according to the conventional technology. The zinc oxide varister prepared by the preparation method not only has voltage-sensitive performance, but also has one or more functions of heat sensitivity, capacitance, inductance, piezoelectricity or magnetic characteristic, and the like, can sinter at low temperature (lower than 900 DEG C) and can use fine silver as an inner electrode.