In this paper the oxidative degradation process of methyl vanillin wastewater was studied by the subcritical water oxidation (HCWO) technology. A subcritical Fenton oxidation (HCFO) system formed while Fe2+ was added as a catalyst. The oxidation degradation kinetics of methyl vanillin wastewater was also studied. The results showed that the suitable process conditions for degradation of methyl vanillin wastewater by HCWO were as follows: temperature of 340 °C, pressure of 24 MPa, oxidant multiple of 1.5, residence time of 217.3 s (flow rate of 2.0 mL min-1). For methyl vanillin wastewater, the HCFO system has no obvious advantages compared to the HCWO system. The activation energy (Ea) of HCWO oxidized methyl vanillin wastewater reaction was 32.6 kJ mol-1, and the pre-exponential factor A was 5.64 s-1.