The invention relates to an operation method of a vulcanized catalyst, which comprises steps of loading the vulcanized catalyst into a reactor, introducing inert gas to replace air in the reactor and air in pipes in front of and behind the reactor, gradually raising the temperature to the activation temperature, switching hydrogen, adjusting pressure and temperature to reaction pressure and reaction temperature after airflow is stable, and introducing raw oil to carry out hydrogenation reaction, wherein a sulfide precursor containing metal Mo or W, Ni or Co, and a catalyst carrier required by the dipping of the dipping solution of an organic assistant are adopted by the vulcanized catalyst, and can be dried to obtain the vulcanized catalyst. The operation method solves the disadvantages of high preparation cost, long prevulcanization time and high operating cost of the traditional oxidation state catalyst. The catalyst prepared by the method does not need to be pre-vulcanized, and the preparation process and the operation method are simple, and are suitable for preparing the petroleum distillate hydrogenation catalyst. The hydrogenation activity of the catalyst prepared by the operation method is better than that of the traditional catalyst.