Belonging to the technical field of lithium ion batteries, the invention discloses a lithium ion battery cathode material and a preparation method thereof. The chemical molecular formula of the cathode material is Lix(NiaCobMnc)1-yMyO2, wherein x is greater than or equal to 0.96 and smaller than or equal to 1.04, y is greater than or equal to 0.01 and smaller than or equal to 0.06, a is greater than or equal to 0.8 and smaller than or equal to 0.9, and a+b+c=1, M has a general formula of BzM'1-z, M' is composed of one or several of the following elements: Al, Mg, Ti and Zr, and z is greater than or equal to 0.1 and smaller than or equal to 0.5. The cathode material is coated by a layer of compound containing L, B, Ni, Co and Mn, the content of B in the outermost surface of the coating layer is at least two times that of the B in the innermost layer of the coating layer. According to the invention, the high capacity cathode material is acquired from a high nickel content ternary system, additionally multielement doping is employed to stabilize the crystal structure of the material, and then by means of washing, boron element surface modification and two-step sintering process, the material surface structure can be improved, and the surface residual alkali content can be reduced to improve the interface stability. The whole technological process of the invention is simple, and is easy for large scale production.