The invention relates to a printing ink color matching method based on spectral matching. The printing ink color matching method aims to achieve the optimal spectral matching of printing ink colors. The Lab color values of splines of a database and the spectral reflectivity of visible spectrums of the splines are measured and obtained; the corresponding relation of the spectral reflectivity of the visible spectrums, the Lab color values and a formula and each spline is built; the Lab value of target colors and the spectral reflectivity of visible spectrums of the target colors are measured; data points are extracted from the database according to the Lab color values of the target colors, wherein the color difference between the data points and the target colors is 0-5; the spectral reflectivity of each extracted data point in the database is regulated, and the mean value of the spectral reflectivity of samples is made to correspond to the mean value of the spectral reflectivity of the target colors; the spectrum difference index of each data point and the target colors is calculated and extracted; the point with the smallest difference index is found out from the extracted data points, and the optimal printing ink formula of the target colors is given according to the printing ink formula, corresponding to the point, in the database.