A novel method for catalytic dehydration of glycerol to acrolein is provided. A fixed bed reactor is used, which is placed in a microwave unit. The feedstock is introduced into the fixed bed reactor after being preheated and gasified. Continuous glycerol dehydration occurs in the presence of a microwave-absorbing catalyst in the fixed bed reactor to form acrolein. The microwave-absorbing catalyst is composed of an active component loaded on a core-shell structure which consists of microwave absorbent coated by an oxide. The uniformity of microwave heating can reduce the formation of hot spot during the reaction and hence improve the catalyst stability. The process and operation is simple, and the unit can steadily run for a long time.