Nb2O5/SBA-15 catalyst was prepared by impregnation with mesoporous molecular sieve SBA-15 as the carrier, and characterized by XRD, BET and other methods. The results show that catalyst Nb2O5/SBA-15, a highly ordered two-dimensional hexagonal mesoporous structure，has larger specific surface area，pore size and pore volume. The catalytic capability of Nb2O5/SBA-15 was studied for esterification, and the optimum reaction conditions were found as follows：n(methanol)/n(oleic acid)=2∶1，reaction temperature 160 ℃，reaction time 4 h，ratio of catalyst to reaction 9.10%. Better reuse ability of Nb2O5/SBA-15 can be also obtained, which confirms Nb2O5/SBA-15 a suitable catalyst for the esterification．