The invention discloses a method for preparing high-titanium iron by step-by-step metal thermal reduction, which comprises an aluminum thermal reduction smelting step and a reinforced reduction refining step, wherein the raw materials include rutile or high-titanium slag, aluminum powder, iron ore concentrate, slag forming agent and KClO3 in a mass ratio of 1.0: 0.37-0.50: 0.05-0.10: 0.15-0.25: 0.20-0.25, and the smelting temperature is 1,900 to 2,200 DEG C; the reinforced reduction refining time in the second step is 10 to 30 minutes, and after the refining is finished, a high-titanium iron alloy is obtained by cooling, ingot formation and impurity removal; and the composite reducing agent is calcium-magnesium alloy. The method has the advantages of wide raw material source and low production cost; the step-by-step reduction operations are adopted in the method, the reduction smelting of the first step is performed under the condition that the aluminum is insufficient, and the calcium-magnesium alloy composite reducing agent is adopted in the deoxidization refining of the second step, so the Al residue in the high-titanium iron alloy is remarkably reduced, and oxygen is effectively removed; and the transfer of high-temperature melt is realized by casting, and the metal slag separation process is reinforced.