The invention relates to a cable line arrester resistive current detection method based on phase search. The method is characterized in that a standard sinusoidal signal is simulated according to an actually measured full current signal, the analog signal is temporarily determined as capacitative current separated from total leakage current, thereby the phase relation between the analogue reference signal and the resistive current can be determined, then different phase shifts are repeatedly used for continuously correcting until the phase reaches to 90-degree phase angle criterion, the novel method is used for achieving resistive current detection specific to conventional arrester resistive current detection methods which obtain a voltage reference signal and not suitable for cable lines and the occasion of difficult obtainment of the voltage signal, during the project, the total leakage current of the arrester is merely required to collect, the actually measured full current information is utilized, the reference signal is simulated according to the amplitude value and period parameters of the full current information, the phase shift is repeatedly performed to achieve phase correction, phases of capacitive component and resistive component are found out, and thereby the cable line arrester resistive current detection is achieved.