The invention relates to the technical field of advanced materials, in particular to a carbon nanotube surface plating method. The plating method includes the following steps of mixing a carbon nanotube with an iodide of plating materials uniformly to obtain a mixture and compacting the mixture; connecting the compacted mixture to the space between a pair of graphite electrodes and vacuuming; introducing a pulse current in vacuum condition, heating the compacted mixture until the iodide pyrolysis takes place, and plating the carbon nanotube surface with plating materials while releasing the iodine vapor; and lowering the temperature and introducing an inert gas to remove the iodine vapor, and completing the carbon nanotube surface plating. By mixing the carbon nanotube with the iodide of the plating materials, the iodide can be quickly thermally decomposed through heat generated by the self-heating of the carbon nanotube after being powered on. By plating the surface of the carbon nanotube with the plating materials, the preparation method is simple and convenient to operate, the preparation method can be applied to large-scale production and the method is economical, effective andenvironmentally friendly.