The hydrolysis of cinnamaldehyde to natural benzaldehyde was investigated systematically using tetramethylammonium-based amino acid ionic liquids as homogeneous catalysts. The results indicated that tetramethylammonium prolinate ([N1111][Pro]) can be a powerful catalyst for the highly efficient hydrolysis of cinnamaldehyde, in which natural benzaldehyde was obtained with almost 94% yield and over 99% selectivity in 1 h. Moreover, kinetic study showed that compared with other catalysts, the catalytic system of [N1111][Pro] has a lower activation energy of 38.30 kJ·mol-1 in the hydrolysis reaction, indicating superior catalytic performance of [N1111][Pro]. Quantum-mechanical calculations further manifested that such high performance originates from the cooperative catalysis of the secondary amino and carboxyl group in the anion [Pro].