Method and catalyst for producing methylbenzyl alcohol from ethanol by catalytic conversion. A route and corresponding catalysts for directly producing methylbenzyl alcohols through catalytic conversion starting from ethanol, providing an important alternative route for increasing the production of aromatic oxygenates. The selectivity of the methylbenzyl alcohols is up to 60%. At the same time, the prepared catalysts have excellent stability. Moreover, this innovative reaction route produces hydrogen as co-product without CO, thus can be directly used in chemical reactions and fuel cells. In addition, the route also produces high carbon number alcohols which can be used as fuels or oil additives to partially replace petroleum-based products, thus partly reducing the dependence on petroleum.