The invention provides a chitosan / styrene-acrylic emulsion surface sizing agent for papermaking. A formula of the chitosan / styrene-acrylic emulsion surface sizing agent comprises deionized water, chitosan, ammonium persulfate, ferrous sulfate, styrene, butyl acrylate, methyl acrylate, a composite emulsifier, hydrogen peroxide, a defoaming agent and glyoxal. A preparation method comprises the following steps: 1, stirring 28kg of deionized water and ammonium persulfate for standby use; 2, mixing 16kg of deionized water and ferrous sulfate for standby use; 3, stirring the styrene, butyl acrylate,methyl acrylate and the composite emulsifier for standby use; 4, mixing 100kg of deionized water and hydrogen peroxide for standby use; 5, adding the surplus water into chitosan, heating, and addingthe standby use material of step 1; 6, adding the standby use material of step 2, and preserving the heat for 10 minutes; 7, stirring 10 percent of to-be-used mixed monomer of step 3 and 10 percent ofstandby use material of step 4; 8, adding the remaining standby use materials of step 3 and 4; 9, cooling to 60 DEG C, adding the glyoxal, and stirring for 15 minutes; 10, adding the defoaming agent;and 11, filtering to remove impurities, thus obtaining a finished product. By adopting the sizing agent, the film forming performance, adhesion and paper surface strength of the paper product can beimproved, and the environment-friendly production can be facilitated.