CeO2 nanorods-supported CoNi bimetallic catalysts was prepared by a simple wet chemical impregnation method, and the catalytic activity was tested by the hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanol at 150 ℃ under 3 MPa H2. It was found that Ni-Co/r-CeO2(Ni:Co=1:1) catalysts showed higher activity than monometallic catalysts. The formation and dispersion of the NiCo alloy is demonstrated by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). Temperature programmed reduction of H2 (H2-TPR) and temperature programmed desorption of CO2 (CO2-TPD) revealed the electronic interaction between the cobalt and nickel in the alloy, which causes the interaction force between the metal and the carrier to change. The formation of NiCo alloy changes the electronic states of Ni and Co was also revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Combined with the characterization results and phenol conversion, it is shown that the addition of Co modulates the surface properties of the active sites, which in turn affects the catalytic activity of metallic NiCo in the phenol hydrogenation reaction.