A series of low-load ruthenium-based catalysts were prepared by impregnation-chemical reduction method. A small amount of W was added to the Ru-B binary catalyst system, and the catalytic performance of the catalysts was improved. Furthermore, when the inverse addition, ultrasonic assisted, and PEG-coated carrier NaY were used, the performance of the ruthenium-based catalysts is superior. The structure, composition and surface morphology of the catalyst were characterized by XPS, H2-TPD, XRD, SEM and ICP-OES. It was found that the reverse addition, W addition, ultrasonic assisted, and PEG-coated carrier NaY are beneficial to more uniformly dispersed for the active particles and have more active sites. The activity of the prepared catalysts was tested via hydrogenation of hydroquinone to 1,4-cyclohexanediol. It was found that Ru-W-B/NaY-IUP(1500)0.6 has the most excellent hydrogenation performance. The conversion of hydroquinone was 99.7 %, the selectivity to 1,4-cyclohexanediol was 92.3 %, while the ruthenium loading was only 0.45 %. In addition, the effect of pH value on the hydrogenation of hydroquinone was studied, the results showed that the pH value of the reaction solution had a great influence on the reaction. When the reaction solution was alkaline, the reaction rate was greatly accelerated, indicating that the alkaline environment is more favorable to the hydrogenation of hydroquinone to 1,4-cyclohexanediol.