Nickel(II) complex 1 was utilized as a sustainable catalyst for α-alkylation of arylacetonitriles with challenging secondary alcohols. Arylacetonitriles with a wide range of functional groups were tolerated, and various cyclic and acyclic secondary alcohols were utilized to yield a large number of α-alkylated products. The plausible mechanism involves the base-promoted activation of precatalyst 1 to