The hydration behavior of calcium aluminate cement (CAC) is mainly affected by phase composition, particle size, curing temperature, and additive, etc. Research works revealed that the zeolite-type minerals would affect the hydration behavior of CAC, while the specific mechanism should be further investigated. Therefore, the hydration behavior and the detailed mechanism of CAC containing zeolite at various curing temperatures (20 ℃, 25 ℃, 30 ℃ and 40 ℃) were investigated, through taking XRD, SEM, FTIR, thermal analyses and electrical conductivity tests. The results show that the effect of synthetic zeolite on the hydration behavior of CAC is dominated by the ion concentration at corresponding temperature. At 20 ℃, the low solubility of CAC leads to low ion concentration, meanwhile, the ultra-high specific surface area of synthetic zeolite hinders the saturation of ions, which prolongs the induction period and thus delays the hydration of CAC. In comparison, the pore structure and ultra-high specific surface area of zeolite provide more nucleation sites for hydrates at 25~40 ℃, which facilitate the hydration of CAC. In addition, the introduction of synthetic zeolite effectively eliminates the abnormal setting behavior of CAC cured at 25 ℃.