The invention discloses a plasma cleaning process for aluminum foil of a lithium ion battery. The process includes the steps that firstly, rare earth elements are ground to obtain a nano rare earth material with the grain size being 1-200 nm, the nano rare earth material and aluminum powder are ground, mixed and stirred and then pressed into a powder cake, and then the powder cake is melted and cast into a rare earth aluminum intermediate alloy ingot; secondly, the rare earth aluminum intermediate alloy ingot and an aluminum ingot are added into a smelting furnace to be smelted, and a blank is obtained; thirdly, the smelted blank is made into primary finished aluminum foil; fourthly, the primary finished aluminum foil is subjected to plasma cleaning through at least two plasma generators which are arranged on the front face and the back face of the primary finished aluminum foil correspondingly and filled with air, argon and pure oxygen or ozone; and fifthly, the primary finished aluminum foil subjected to plasma cleaning is slit into rolls, and the finished aluminum foil is obtained. The plasma cleaning process is environmentally friendly, capable of saving energy, complete in decontamination, high in decontamination speed and capable of guaranteeing the mechanical property of the aluminum foil.