The selective hydrogenation of alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes plays a crucial role in industrial production, and an efficient non-noble metal catalyst for it has been pursued to reduce the cost. Herein, we report an amorphous nickel phosphide for the selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde. Compared to crystalline nickel phosphide, amorphous nickel phosphide showed both high activity and high selectivity to target products. Its catalytic performance was also better than that of commercial Pd/C catalyst. In addition, initial P/Ni ratio was found to be an important factor to affect the activity of amorphous nickel phosphide. High initial P/Ni ratio led to high activity owing to small particles, high surface area and strong metallicity of as-synthesized catalyst. Moreover, excellent catalytic performances of amorphous nickel phosphide were observed in the selective hydrogenation of different alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones. Graphic