The invention provides a method for extracting alumina from coal ash through a wet process. The method comprises the following steps: 1, mixing the coal ash, calcium oxide and an alkaline solution, reacting, carrying out flash evaporation, and filtering to obtain an alkaline solution containing sodium aluminate and aluminum removed slag; 2, cooling and crystallizing the alkaline solution obtained in step 1 to obtain a coarse hydrated sodium aluminate crystal and a crystallization mother solution; 3, circulatingly applying the crystallization mother solution obtained in step 2 to a leaching reaction, dissolving the coarse hydrated sodium aluminate crystal with water or a diluted alkaline solution, carrying out silicon removal and seed decomposition to obtain aluminum hydroxide, and calcining aluminum hydroxide to obtain alumina; 4, evaporating the seed-decomposed mother solution, and mixing the evaporated seed-decomposed mother solution with the alkaline solution obtained in the step 1; and 5, carrying out hydrolysis sodium removal on the aluminum removed slag obtained in the step 1 in the diluted alkaline solution, filter-separating, and carrying out multistage countercurrent washing on the sodium removed slag. According to the method, the dissolving-out temperature and the dissolving-out pressure are low, the dissolving-out rate of alumina can reach above 90%, and the content of sodium oxide in the sodium removed slag is less than 1%.