UiO-66 and its derivatives were synthesized by solvothermal synthesis of different organic ligands, such as terephthalic acid, 2-nitroterephthalic acid, 2-aminoterephthalic acid and 2-hydroxyterephthalic acid. In the synthesis, formic acid, acetic acid, benzoic acid and hydrochloric acid were used as different modulators to modulate the structure of zirconium-based MOFs. The zirconium-based MOFs were characterized by XRD, SEM and FT-IR. The effects of different modulators and additions on the morphology and structure of zirconium-based MOFs were investigated. It was found that the different modulators have different effects on the formation of zirconium-based MOFs. The hydrochloric acid and acetic acid mixture modulators can significantly improve the crystallinity of UiO-66. When the molar ratio of the regulator to ZrCl4 was 30, the benzoic acid modulator can obtain uniform UiO-66 octahedral crystal with dimensions of 500 nm, the formic acid modulators increased the specific surface area of UiO-66 from 1173.3 m2/g to 1973.8 m2/g. Three kinds of zirconium-based MOFs were selected as esterification reaction catalysts to obtain esterified oil. UiO-66-NH2 has good catalytic activity, and its free fatty acid conversion rate was 50.7%. The yield of biodiesel obtained by the reaction of KOH catalyzed esterification oil was 51.6%, and the methyl ester rate was as high as 99% or more.