The invention belongs to the technical field of air cylinder sleeves, and particularly relates to an energy-saving light spiral groove cast-in type air cylinder sleeve and a preparation method thereof. The air cylinder sleeve is prepared from, by weight percentage, 2.8%-3.5% of carbon, 1.2%-2.1% of silicon, 0.2%-0.5% of phosphorus, 0.06%-0.12% of sulfur, 0.3%-0.7% of manganese, 0.3%-0.7% of copper, 0.2%-0.5% of chromium, 0.1%-0.4% of molybdenum, 0.1%-0.2% of tin, larger than 0 and smaller than or equal to 0.05% of vanadium and the balance iron. According to the air cylinder sleeve, through smelting, casting and machining, graphite on the wear surface of the material of the air cylinder sleeve is evenly distributed in a flaky shape, fine lamellar pearlite bodies are the main of the base body structure of the friction surface, the hardness ranges from 94 HRB to 104 HRB, and tensile strength is larger than or equal to 360 MPa. After casting, the bonding strength of the air cylinder sleeve and a cylinder body is high and is 40 MPa or more.