In view of the problem that it is difficult to balance the high catalytic activity and easy recovery of silver nanoparticles(Ag NPs)catalyst in the catalytic reduction of methylene blue (MB), a cellulose-based silver-loaded hydrogel(TOC-CMC-Ag) was prepared and its catalytic reduction performance to MB was studied. Firstly, TOC-CMC hydrogels were prepared with oxidized cellulose (TOC) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as raw materials and epichlorohydrin(ECH) as cross-linking agent. The effect of CMC substitution degree on their swelling and adsorption properties was studied. Then, TOC-CMC-Ag was prepared by in-situ reduction method using the TOC-CMC hydrogel with the best adsorption performance as the carrier. The production was characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Finally, the catalytic reduction performance of TOC-CMC-Ag on MB was studied. The results indicate that TOC-CMC-Ag can completely reduce MB within 4 minutes. After 7 catalytic cycles, MB could still be completely reduced. The prepared silver-loaded hydrogel with high catalytic activity and easy recovery provides a new way for the development of catalytic reduction catalyst with excellent comprehensive performance.