The invention belongs to the technical field of water treatment, and discloses a low-carbon environment-friendly unfired ceramsite filter material as well as a preparation method and application thereof. The method comprises the following steps: firstly, diluting high-purity acid with water, and mixing and stirring with a silicate or aluminosilicate material to obtain an acid excitation material; then adding water, siliceous powder and expanded perlite into the acid excitation material, and uniformly mixing and stirring to prepare a matrix; the ceramsite filter material finished product is finally formed through foaming pore-forming, extrusion forming, normal-pressure steam curing, high-pressure steam curing and surface modification, and the filter material is excellent in comprehensive performance and has the advantages of being good in grain shape, good in acid resistance and high in hardness. According to the invention, the traditional calcining process at 1000 DEG C or above is not needed, the ceramsite filter material is prepared through a hydrothermal synthesis process at 90-200 DEG C, the production energy consumption is low, the resources are saved, the prepared ceramsite filter material is spherical, the accumulation porosity of the filter material is high, backwashing is facilitated, and the filter material is prevented from depositing mud.