The invention discloses a Cu<2+>-perylene tetracarboxylic acid assembly as well as a preparation method and application. The Cu<2+>-perylene tetracarboxylic acid assembly disclosed by the invention has the competitive bonding of perylene tetracarboxylic potassium and histidine with Cu<2+> as a basic action mechanism, and in addition, perylene tetracarboxylic potassium light emission is adopted asa fluorescent signal report group. When being put into a system, histidine can be in coordinate bonding of Cu<2+> in an assembly structure, then the assembly structure can be decomposed, perylene exists in a mode of monomer dispersion in a bulk phase solution instead of ordered accumulation, and solution color and fluorescence change can be resulted. Recognition results of the assembly upon multiple amino acids are studied by using a colorimetric method, an ultrasonic-visible absorption spectrum method and a fluorescent spectrum method, and results show that the Cu<2+>-perylene tetracarboxylicacid assembly is capable of effectively and selectively recognizing histidine in a pure water solvent system, and has very high sensitivity to histidine.