The invention discloses a preparation method of a polystyrene-acrylate core-shell composite emulsion, belongs to the emulsion preparation field, and solves the problems of adhesion resistance, poor heat resistance and the like of a thermoplastic polystyrene-acrylate random copolymer in the prior art. The preparation method is as follows: 1, weighing raw materials; 2, adding distilled water into a reactor, heating up, adding a compound emulsifier, a pH buffer and then part of a mixed vinyl monomer for emulsifying, adding part of an initiator, heating up to react until no reflux exists to obtain a seed emulsion; 3, continuing heating up, dripping off the rest of the mixed vinyl monomer, synchronously adding part of the initiator, after the dripping of the part of the initiator, keeping warm to obtain a core structure emulsion; 4, dripping a mixed acrylate monomer to the core structure emulsion, in the mixed monomer dripping process, adding part of the initiator, after dripping of the part of the initiator, adding the rest of the initiator, keeping warm, then cooling, adding ammonia water, stirring, further cooling, and filtering. The preparation method is applied in the fields of wood veneering, interior decoration, textiles and the like.