The invention relates to a preparation method of a zinc oxide-based tubular rotary target material. The preparation method comprises the following steps: taking NH4HCO3 as a precipitant, preparing pure zinc oxide powder and Al-doped zinc oxide powder with an atomic ratio of 1-7at% by a chemical precipitation method, presintering, conglomerating and shaping the powder, filling the powder into a mould, moulding the powder in a cold isostatic pressing manner at 300-340MPa, obtaining a biscuit with a relative density of 70-75%, sintering the biscuit under an oxidizing atmosphere, and processing the sintered biscuit to obtain the rotary target material. Compared with the prior art, the preparation method provided by the invention has the beneficial effects that the density of the biscuit is improved by 10-15%; the volume shrinkage in later stage sintering is reduced; the sintering deformation of the tubular target with a large length-diameter ratio is effectively controlled; and in the process of sintering, the circulating oxygen is served as a control atmosphere to avoid the component changing, large pores on the surface and density reduction caused by the large pores on the surface.