To provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor light emitting device capable of providing sufficiently low operating voltage.The method for manufacturing a semiconductor light emitting device of the present invention includes: a semiconductor laminating step of laminating a plurality of nitride semiconductor layers of to form a semiconductor laminating structure; and an electrode forming step of forming n-side electrode and p-side electrodes on the n-type and p-type semiconductor layers. In the electrode forming step, after a first metallic layer including a Ni layer constituting a part of the n-side electrode is formed on a surface of a forming region of the n-side electrode, the first metallic layer is annealed in an atmosphere containing nitrogen and oxygen.