Liquid hydrogen donors have found limited industrial application due to the difficulty of their separation from the reaction product. To solve this problem a novel type of solid hydrogen donor is developed and applied in the liquid-phase hydrogenation of cyclohexene on a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. A significant increase in the reaction rate is observed when using the solid hydrogen donor, particularly in the initial stage of the reaction, when the reaction rate is zero order with respect to cyclohexene. The selectivity to cyclohexane was also improved.