The present invention provides a production method for the easy production of an antireflection film which has excellent antireflection properties, excellent scratch resistance, and antifouling performance and with which the occurrence of faint whitening that has thus far not been addressed is controlled, as well as an antireflection film, and a polarizing plate and 
image display device that use the film. The production method for producing an antireflection film involves performing, in the following order, a step (1) for forming a 
coating film by applying, on a transparent substrate, a composition containing at least a 
fluorine-containing compound, microparticles, and a binder resin and that is for forming a low-refractive-index layer, a step (2) for phase separation of the 
coating film into a low-refractive-index phase and an antifouling phase, and a step (3) for forming a low-refractive-index layer and an antifouling layer for covering the entire surface of the low-refractive-index layer by heating the low-refractive-index phase and the antifouling phase, or by exposing the low-refractive-index phase and the antifouling phase to 
ionizing radiation. In the production method, at least a transparent substrate, a low-refractive-index layer, and an antifouling layer are formed in that order, and the 
fluorine atom / 
carbon atom ratio measured by X-
ray photoelectron 
spectroscopy (XPS) from the antifouling layer side is between 0.6 and 1.0, the 
silicon atom / 
carbon atom ratio is less than 0.25, and the average 
surface roughness of the antifouling layer (Ra') is 10 nm or less.