A new supported Ni/AlPO4 catalyst was synthesized and studied for the selective hydrogenation of α- pinene to prepare cis-pinane. The support was flaky morphology with orthorhombic phase and Ni was well dispersed. The surface area of the catalyst was 37.62m2·g -1 with a pore size of 2.83 nm. For the hydrogenation reaction, the performance of the catalyst was positively correlated with the surface area of support and loading content of Ni. Effects of hydrogenation condition were determined and the process was optimized by response surface methodology. The result suggested that the conversion was positively correlated to hydrogenation temperature, duration and catalyst dosage, while the selectivity showed a negative correlation to temperature and catalyst dosage. After optimization, 95.1% of selectivity was obtained under 94.8% of conversion at 405 K, 81 min and 2.28 wt% of catalyst.