Abstract: The present invention relates to coal chemical processing, and particularly to a thermal dissolution catalysis method for preparing liquid fuel from lignite. The method comprises steps of: 1) crushing and drying lignite into coal powder; 2) stirring and mixing coal powder, a solvent and a catalyst sufficiently to form coal slurry, wherein there are 30-40% mass of coal powder, 60-70% mass of solvent, and 0.5-1% mass of catalyst relative to coal powder mass; 3) subjecting the coal slurry to thermal dissolution catalysis reaction to obtain thermal dissolution liquefied product, wherein the reaction is carried out for 30-60 minutes at a temperature 390-450° C. under a pressure 5.0-9.0 MPa; 4) separating the thermal dissolution liquefied product into gas, liquid and solid phases; and 5) upgrading the liquid product into liquid fuel. The present invention further discloses a catalyst and a solvent for use in the above method.