AbstractObtaining chemical building blocks from biomass is attractive for meeting sustainability targets. Herein, an effective approach was developed to convert the lignin part of woody biomass into phenol, which is a valuable base chemical. Monomeric alkylmethoxyphenols were obtained from pinewood, rich in guaiacol‐type lignin, through Pt/C‐catalyzed reductive depolymerization. In a second step, an optimized MoP/SiO2 catalyst was used to selectively remove methoxy groups in these lignin monomers to generate 4‐alkylphenols, which were then dealkylated by zeolite‐catalyzed transalkylation to a benzene stream. The overall yield of phenol based on the initial lignin content in pinewood was 9.6 mol %.