Silica-supported chitin-platinum complex (SiO2-CT-Pt) has been prepared and found to be a high stereoselective catalyst for asymmetric hydrogenation of racemic alpha-phenylethanol to R-(+)-1-cyclohexyl ethanol at 30 degrees C and under an atmospheric hydrogen pressure. The optical selectivity of R-(+)-1-cyclohexyl ethanol amounted to 100% when a fitting condition was selected. In this case, the yield and optical selectivity were affected greatly by many factors, such ast content in SiO2-CT-Pt complex, the reaction temperature, the solvent, and the amount of the additive of hydrochloric acid, etc. SiO2-CT-Pt catalyst also has shown high stability. The optical selectivity for R-(+)-1-cyclohexyl ethanol was almost keeping at 100% when the catalyst was reused for many times. Moreover, SiO2-CT-Pt complex is an economical chiral catalyst. The chitin is an abundant natural biopolymer and the procedure for preparation of the complex is very simple.