The invention relates to a lithium ion battery screening method comprising the following steps: discharging lithium ion batteries to a knee point voltage of a lithium ion battery discharging curve with a constant current I1; shelving for a certain time T1 until the open-circuit voltage of the lithium ion batteries rises again to U1 which is larger than the knee point voltage of the lithium ion battery discharging curve; discharging the lithium ion batteries to the knee point voltage of the lithium ion battery discharging curve with a constant current I2 which is much less than I1; and shelving for a certain time T2 and rejecting the lithium ion batteries with self-discharge voltage difference larger than 0.1V.