The invention relates to the technical field of surfactants, and provides a zwitterionic surfactant as well as a preparation method and application thereof. The surfactant is shown as a formula (I), wherein in the formula (I), R1 is selected from C4-C30
alkyl; r2 is selected from H and C1-C10
alkyl groups; r3 is selected from H, methyl and ethyl; r4 is selected from H and C1-C4
alkyl; m1 and m2 are respectively and independently selected from any integer between 0 and 50, and m1 + m2 = 1-50; the structure of R5 is shown as-(CH2) n1 (CH (OH)) n2 (CH2) n3SO3 (M) n, n1 is any integer selected from 1-4, n2 is selected from 0 or 1, n3 is any integer selected from 1-4, n1 + n2 + n3 is less than or equal to 6, M comprises at least one of
alkali metal ions and
alkaline earth metal ions, when M is the
alkali metal ions, n is 1, and when M is the
alkaline earth metal ions, n is 0.5; xi-is an anion, wherein i is the number of charges of the anion. The zwitterionic surfactant provided by the invention has the advantages of being good in
temperature resistance and salt tolerance, high in interfacial activity and capable of effectively reducing the water
injection pressure of the low-permeability reservoir, can be used in enhanced oil extraction production for reducing pressure and increasing injection of the low-permeability reservoir, and can obviously improve the
recovery efficiency of the low-permeability reservoir.