Three Ni-based catalysts with different clay as support were prepared and tested in the hydrogenation of maleic anhydride, among which Ni/clay1 showed best activity and selectivity. Over Ni/clay1 catalyst prepared by impregnation method, 97.14% conversion of maleic anhydride and 99.55% selectivity to succinic anhydride were obtained at $180^{circ}C$ under a pressure of 1 MPa. Catalytic activity was greatly influenced by the temperature and weighted hourly space velocity. Catalyst deactivation studies showed that this catalyst have a long life time, the yield of MA still higher than 90% even after a reaction time of 60 h. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and $H_2$ temperature programmed reduction (TPR) were use to investigate the properties of the catalyst. XRD and TPR studies showed that Ni was present as $Ni^{2+}$ on the support, which indicated that there was no elemental nickel ($Ni^0$) and $Ni_2O_3$ in the unreduced samples. The formation of Ni was strong impact on catalytic activity.