The invention discloses a method for recovering lithium from a waste lithium ion battery. The method comprises the following steps: discharging the waste lithium ion battery, cutting a positive plate obtained by disassembling the waste lithium ion battery into blocks, soaking the blocks in a mixed solution of N-methyl pyrrolidone and dimethylacetamide, adding a mixed solution of orange juice and water, stirring, carrying out ultrasonic treatment, picking out an aluminum foil, filtering and drying to obtain a positive active material, uniformly mixing with a citric acid, roasting, uniformly mixing with sodium citrate, roasting, mixing with sodium hydroxide and sodium persulfate, and carrying out microwave roasting; leaching the roasted product in water, carrying out solid-liquid separation to obtain a filtrate A, adjusting the pH value of the filtrate A to be neutral, filtering, adding sodium sulfide, adjusting the pH value to be 8-10, stirring, and carrying out solid-liquid separation to obtain a filtrate B; and adjusting the pH value of the filtrate B to 2-3, mixing the filtrate B with a mixture of 1-carboxymethyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, the acetic acid and tributyl phosphate, stirring at a room temperature for 10-35 minutes, and centrifuging. The method provided by the invention is simple and feasible in process, high in lithium ion recovery rate and good in purity.