The invention relates to a method and a device for removing heavy metals in industrial wastewater by a multilevel reversed filter type system. The invention provides unitized airtight reactors which can be connected with one another in series in a multilevel way. Each level of the reactor adopts a reversed filter type design, and is respectively to be a clarification region, a mixed reaction region and a compact reaction region from bottom to top, the bottom of each level of the reactor is provided with a water distributor, and the pretreated heavy metals-containing sewage enters into the compact reaction region to be mixed according to a certain hydraulic condition, and respectively passes through each region from bottom to top. Various heavy metals in sewage, such as Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Ni and the like can be removed by the nanoscale zero-valent iron for once due to the auxiliary functions of the absorption, the reduction and the like, the removed heavy metals are attached onto the nanoscale zero-valent iron, and the nZVI in the unit can be recovered and the fresh nanoscale zero-valent iron can be refreshed after the reaction of one reaction unit is saturated. The invention is simple to operate, and prominent in effect, various metals in the medium and low-concentration heavy metals-containing sewage can be removed for once, the water is stably discharged, and the device is easy to maintain. The method has the characteristics of being low in treatment cost, high in removal efficiency, free from secondary pollution and the like.