The invention discloses a silicon carbon composite material and a preparation method thereof, and a lithium ion battery containing the material. The preparation method of the silicon carbon composite material comprises the following steps: (1) calcining silicon powder in oxygen-containing atmosphere to obtain a composite material with silica-coated silicon; (2) coating the composite material with silica-coated silicon by carbon; (3) corroding the silica with excessive hydrofluoric acid to obtain the silicon carbon composite material. The preparation process of the silicon carbon composite material is simple; the preparation of the composite material with silica-coated silicon by partial oxidation of silicon is simple, and controllable in silicon oxidation degree; the silica layer of the material obtained after coating the composite material with silica-coated silicon by carbon is easy to remove; and a core shell structure with a certain gap between the carbon layer and the silicon is obtained. The preparation process is simple; the silicon carbon composite material prepared by the preparation method has better electrochemical properties; batteries prepared by the silicon carbon composite material have better cycle performance.