A novel synthesis method was developed to, prepare a silica-supported monoclinic molybdenum dioxide (MoO2/SiO2) catalyst via calcination of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)/SiO2 in N-2 flow with 0.1 vol % O-2. MoO2/SiO2 was employed as a catalyst for sawdust hydroliquefaction in ethanol at 320 degrees C under an initial H-2 pressure (IHP) of 2-6 MPa, and the bio-oil yield as high as 72.3% was obtained under an IHP of 6 MPa. The high catalytic activity of MoO2/SiO2 should be attributed to the efficient cleavage of H-2 on the surface of highly dispersed MoO2, which shows an unusual metallic characteristic. The obtained bio-oil was analyzed with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and the main organic compounds detected by GC/MS were phenolics and ethyl esters.