The invention discloses a method for effectively recycling rear earth elements in a fluorescent powder waste material. The method comprises the following steps: (1) roasting at low temperature to remove organic impurities and volatile substances; (2) wetly grinding the roasted waste material and a circulating liquid according to dosing requirement to prepare material slurry; (3) separating out at high pressure, namely, dissolving out the non-rear-earth elements in the waste material under high pressure, and meanwhile precipitating the rear earth elements; (4) diluting and separating, namely, diluting the slurry to separate rear earth rich mud and solution; (5) washing, acid-solving, extracting, precipitating and roasting the rear earth rich mud to finally obtain a single rear earth product; (6) decomposing the solution to obtain a by-product, wherein a decomposing liquid is circularly used for wetly grinding dosing of the step (2) after the decomposing liquid is subjected to evaporation or alkali supplement. By adopting the method, not only is a recycling rate of the rear earth in the fluorescent powder waste material reached, but also another by-product is obtained, the solution is circularly used, and the comprehensive use of the fluorescent powder waste material is achieved.