Alcohols and nitrile functionalities have widespread applications in biochemical and chemical synthesis. Catalytic transformations involving C−C bond formation relying on unsaturated coupling partners create important pathways for processes in synthetic, material, and medicinal chemistry. The discovery of a simple and selective coupling of nitriles with allylic alcohols catalyzed by a ruthenium pincer complex is described, which tolerates reactive functional groups such as carbamate, sulfonate, olefin, cyano, and trifluoromethyl-substituted benzyl nitriles. Homo allylic alcohols also provided 1,4-addition products following the isomerization of double bonds. Mechanistic studies supported that the allylic alcohols initially undergo selective oxidation by the catalyst to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds followed by 1,4-conjugate addition of benzyl nitriles catalyzed by a base and subsequent catalytic reduction of carbonyl functionality, leading to the formation of δ-hydroxynitrile products. The catalytic cycle of this tandem process is established by density functional theory studies. Remarkably, anipamil drug is successfully synthesized using this catalytic protocol. The utility of the δ-hydroxynitrile products in the synthesis of biologically active molecules and their further functionalization are also demonstrated.