In this article, transition metals of Cu, La and Zn were used as adjuvant to preparemodified HZSM-5 by impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, BET, NH3-TPD and Py-IR to reveal the microstructure and acid property. The catalysis performances of methanol aromatization of catalysts were investigated in a fixed-bed reactor. The results show that the strength and distribution of acid center of these catalysts are significantly influenced by the species of transition metal. There are more mediate strong Lewis acid center in Zn modified HZSM-5 catalyst and therefore exhibits higher selectivity to aromatic, benzene, toluene and xylenes in the MTA reaction.. (c) 2018 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.