The present invention discloses a petroleum sulfonate production method, wherein sulfonated tail gas absorption sewage and sulfonated acidic oil produced in a sulfonation process are subjected to a neutralization reaction to generate the petroleum sulfonate, wherein the neutralization reaction temperature is 20-80 DEG C, the pH value of the sulfonate solution obtained through the neutralization reaction is 6-8, and tail gas produced during the sulfonation process for the petroleum sulfonate production using gas phase sulfur trioxide as a sulfonation agent is subjected to alkali absorption treatment to obtain the sulfonated tail gas absorption sewage. According to the present invention, the sulfonated tail gas absorption sewage is used in the neutralization process of the petroleum sulfonate, a large amount of sodium sulfite contained in the sulfonated tail gas absorption sewage can completely react with the sulfonated acidic oil to generate sodium sulfonate and water, the sodium sulfonate is directly used as the finished product for sale, and no wastewater is generated, such that the problem that the COD of the tail gas absorption sewage f the sulfonation reaction is high and is difficult to treat in the prior art is solved.