The invention discloses a carrier SiO2, a preparation method of the carrier SiO2, a copper-based catalyst as well as a preparation method and an application of the copper-based catalyst. The carrier SiO2 is prepared from grout obtained by mixing gas phase SiO2, silica sol SiO2 and water through centrifugal spray drying and calcination, and the carrier SiO2 has high mechanical strength, a large specific surface area and a larger pore volume; the copper-based catalyst comprises components in percentage by weight as follows: 10%-60% of Cu/ZnO/MOx and 40%-90% of SiO2, MOx is an optional component and is selected from one or more of ZrO2, Y2O3, CeO2, La2O3 and Ga2O3, and SiO2 is the carrier SiO2 prepared with the preparation method. The particle size of the catalyst is uniform, the specific surface area and the pore volume are large, the metal dispersity is high, the anti-wear performance is high, the reaction performance is stable during preparation of methanol, the reaction activity and the yield of methanol are high, the cost is low, and preparation is simple and convenient.