A novel Co-B amorphous alloy catalyst in the form of ultrafine particles was prepared by chemical reduction of CoCl2 with aqueous NaBH4, which exhibited excellent activity and selectivity during the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde to cinnamyl alcohol in liquid phase. The optimum yield of cinnamyl alcohol was 87.6%, much better than the yield of using Raney Ni, Raney Co and other Co-based catalysts.