The invention discloses a surface nickel plating method of artificial diamond. The method includes the following steps that firstly, the surface of artificial diamond is subjected to deoiling treatment, then the diamond surface is acidized and subjected to treatment through sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate, and therefore, the surface hydrophobicity is effectively improved; secondly, obtained artificial diamond in the first step is put and subjected to treatment in activating liquid composed of palladium chloride, sodium bromide, ammonium acetate and deionized water, treated diamond is cleaned with the deionized water and then put in chemical plating liquid composed of nickel sulfate, nickel acetate, sodium hypohosphite, sodium citrate, ammonium acetate, citric acid, ammonium hydroxide, sulfamic acid and deionized water for nickel plating treatment; and nickel plating waste liquid obtained after treatment is subjected to treatment through a composite extracting agent composed of an organic phosphoric acid extracting agent and an aldoxime extracting agent, and nickel is recycled. A nickel layer is plated on the surface of the artificial diamond obtained through the method, the bonding force between the nickel layer and a diamond substrate is good, the adhesive property of the diamond and an adhesive can be effectively improved, the particle dispersity in the plating process is good, the plating layer is uniform, and pollution to the environment is avoided.