The invention provides water-based ink for the intaglio printing process of aluminum foil. The ink is prepared from, by mass, 20-30% of water-based organic pigment, 20-25% of water-based acrylic resin, 20-25% of water-based acrylic emulsion, 0.5-1.5% of flatting agent, 0.1-0.3% of defoaming agent, 10-15% of ethyl alcohol and 10-20% of water. A preparation method includes the steps of evenly dispersing water, acrylic resin, acrylic emulsion, water-based pigment and ethyl alcohol, heating the materials till the temperature is 30-55 DEG C, evenly stirring and grinding the materials, adding flatting agent and defoaming agent, controlling the viscosity of ink for 10-20 seconds, and obtaining the water-based ink. The water-based ink is excellent in performance, safe and environmentally friendly, harms to a user can be reduced, the preparation method of the water-based ink is simple, the viscosity of the ink is easy to control, and the ink has wide application prospects.