Acrylic acid is an important industrial feedstock. In this study, a de novo acrylate biosynthetic pathway from inexpensive carbon source glycerol was constructed in Escherichia coli. The acrylic acid was produced from glycerol via 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde, 3-hydroxypropionyl-CoA, and acrylyl-CoA. The acrylate production was improved by screening and site-directed mutagenesis of key enzyme enoyl-CoA hydratase and chromosomal integration of some exogenous genes. Finally, our recombinant strain produced 37.7 mg/L acrylic acid under shaking flask conditions. Although the acrylate production is low, our study shows feasibility of engineering an acrylate biosynthetic pathway from inexpensive carbon source. Furthermore, the reasons for limited acrylate production and further strain optimization that should be performed in the future were also discussed.