The invention belongs to the technical field of fertilizers, and relates to a water-retaining organic-inorganic composite fertilizer comprising, by weight: 2-10% of a bio-organic fertilizer, 5-20% of weathered coal, 5-20% of grass carbon, 1-8% of vermiculite, 1-30% of humic acid, 0.1-0.3% of zinc sulfate, 2-60% of urea, 2-50% of potassium dihydrogen phosphate, and 1-10% of a water-retaining agent. According to the invention, grass carbon, weathered coal, vermiculite, and urea are crushed until a particle size is below 3mm; the particles are well mixed with humic acid, zinc sulfate, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, and the water-retaining agent, such that particles with diameters of 2-5mm are prepared; and polishing, bake-drying, sieving, measuring, and packaging are carried out, such that water-retaining organic-inorganic composite fertilizer finished product is obtained. The fertilizer provided by the invention has multiple functions such as water retaining, fertilizer retaining, fertilizer saving, ground temperature adjusting, soil improving, substantial production increasing, fertilizer-efficiency sustained-release, stress resistance improving, low cost, high efficiency, and the like. With the fertilizer, seed germination rate, seedling emergence rate, and seedling transplantation survival rate can be effectively improved, and grain, cotton, fruit, and vegetable production can be increased by 20-45%.