Biomass, the most abundant renewable resource on the planet, has found applications in producing sustainable fuel sources and chemicals. Vanillin is widely regarded as one type of platform intermediate for the conversion of lignin biomass into valuable chemicals and fuels due to the presence of -OH, -CHO and benzene ring functional groups. In particular, the selective hydrodeoxygenation of vanillin to 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (MMP) is highly desired as MMP is an essential chemical applied in fragrances and the synthesis of the pharmaceutical intermediates. To achieve efficient conversion of vanillin to MMP, considerable catalyst systems have been investigated for catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), for example, biochars supported noble metal nanoparticles, Pd/CFR nanocatalyst, nitrogen-doped Co nanoparticles, Cu NPs supported on activated carbon, bimetallic metal-based catalysts, and single atom catalyst have been applied in vanillin hydrodeoxygenation. Among these catalysts, catalytic HDO with effective transformation, however, higher H2 pressure, high reaction temperature, or complicated catalyst preparation are required in most cases. Thus, developing high-efficiency efficient catalysts for hydrodeoxygenation reactions needed long exploration.