Production of polyols and other chemicals from cellulose was important for sustainable society, and it had long relied on the design of suitable catalysts to achieve high yield of lower polyols. Herein, we reported a new preparing strategy for nickel-tungsten catalyst to fabricate Ni-W/SiO2@C catalysts coated by thin carbon. The crystal carbon demonstrated the recommendable confinement effect to obtain the well dispersed metallic particles on SiO2. The prepared composites were characterized by means of XRD, N-2 physisorption, thermogravimetry, XPS, TEM, element mapping and atomic force microscope. These characterizations confirmed that more phases including WO3, Ni, NiW alloys and NiC were formed by incorporation of porous crystal carbon. Moreover, the metallic particles were dispersed in size range of 2-8nm influenced by coating carbon and ethanediamine (dispersant). The activities of catalysts were evaluated in hydrogenolysis of cellulose to lower polyols at 240 degrees C under 5.0MPa H-2 pressure in the presence of water. Results showed that catalyst Ni-W/SiO2@C-12 was more favorable for EG production, with the highest EG yield of 60.7% and 100% cellulose conversion after reaction for 60min.Graphical AbstractThe series of high efficient nickel-tungsten catalysts Ni-W/SiO2@C were fabricated and coated by thin carbon. The thin coating carbon demonstrated the recommendable confinement effect to obtain the well dispersed metallic particles on SiO2. [GRAPHICS] .