Abstract: A palladium based catalyst was used to synthesize dimethyl 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylate via the hydrogenation of dimethyl terephthate under low pressure. The influences of temperature, pressure, liquid space velocity and hydrogen-to-dimethyl terephthate ratio on the reactivity were investigated. The durability test of the catalyst was carried out for 200 h. The result showes that the conversion of reactant increases dramatically with the rising of the temperature and the hydrogen-to-dimethyl terephthate ratio while the selectivity changes slightly. Further more, both of the conversion and the selectivity decrease with the increase of the liquid space velocity. However, the pressure has little effect on the reaction. The conversion of dimethyl terephthate and the selectivity to dimethyl 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylate are higher than 95% and 94% respectively. Metallic palladium is the main active center of the catalyst.