A series of Cu/Zn catalysts were characterized by XRD, TPR and BET techniques. The catalytic activity and lifetime of these catalysts were investigated in hydrogenation of maleic anhydride to γ-butyrolactone. Addition of activited carbon into Cu/Zn catalysts could decrease the reaction temperature to 240 ℃. At the optimum condition, which LHSV was 0.1h-1 and ratio of H2/ MA was 50, the conversion of maleic anhydride was 100%, selectivity of γ-Butyrolactone was 93.28% as well as catalyst lifetime was more than 2000 hours.