The invention provides a preparation method of pyrrolidone derivatives. The preparation method is characterized by comprising the steps of placing a carbon-based catalyst and a solvent into a reactor, and putting a levulinic acid material and primary amine into the reactor; reacting for 0.1-72 h under the conditions of 0.1-10 MPa of reducing gas pressure and 50-300 DEG C of reaction temperature, and obtaining the pyrrolidone derivatives. The preparation method can improve the yield of a target product (c) by changing the reaction path in the reaction of synthesizing pyrrolidone derivatives with levulinic acid as a raw material, so that the preparation method is suitable for the industrial production of this kind of reactions.