An aqueous chemoenzymatic cascade reaction combining Pd-catalyzed C-C formation and enzymatic C=C asymmetric hydrogenation (AH) was developed for enantioselective synthesis of tertiary α-aryl cycloketones in good yields and excellent enantioselectivities. The stereopreference of the enzyme in AH of α-aryl cyclohexenones was studied. An enantiocomplementary enzyme was obtained by site-directed mutation.@en