By calcining selenium powder and silver powder at 150 ℃ under N2 protection, the novel material silver selenide (Ag/Se) could be easily fabricated. It possessed very strong oxygen carrier features and could activate the molecular oxygen to achieve the catalytic oxidation reactions. In this work, the Ag/Se-catalyzed alcohol oxidation reactions were investigated to afford a novel clean method for the synthesis of carbonyls. It could be applied for the oxidation reactions of primary and secondary alcohols, and could catalyze the selective oxidation of primary alcohols to synthesize aldehydes in moderate yields. Ag/Se as the novel Se-containing catalytic material may be comprehensively applied in future and significantly pushes forward the development of the chemistry of Se catalysis.