A surface-coated cutting tool includes a base material and a coating formed on the base material. The coating includes an α-Al 2 O 3 layer. The α-Al 2 O 3 layer contains a plurality of α-Al 2 O 3 crystal grains and chlorine, and has a TC(006) of more than 5 in texture coefficient TC(hkl). The α-Al 2 O 3 layer includes lower and upper layers, the lower layer is located closer to the base material than the upper layer is, and the upper layer is located opposite to the base material across the lower layer, in a thickness direction of the α-Al 2 O 3 layer. The lower layer has a thickness of 1.0 µm. The upper layer has a thickness of 0.5 µm or more. The chlorine in the lower layer has a concentration distribution in which an atomic concentration C Cl of the chlorine decreases in a direction away from the base material, in a thickness direction of the lower layer.