The gear steel comprises the following chemical components in percentage by mass: 0.12 to 0.23 percent of C, 0.17 to 0.42 percent of Si, 1.7 to 2.5 percent of Mn, 0.4 to 1.25 percent of Cr, 0.5 to 1.45 percent of Mo, 0.35 to 0.75 percent of Ni, 0.1 to 0.35 percent of V, 0.002 to 0.007 percent of B, less than or equal to 0.015 percent of P, less than or equal to 0.015 percent of S, less than or equal to 0.01 percent of Cu, less than or equal to 0.015 percent of Al, less than or equal to 0.008 percent of Ti, less than or equal to 0.02 percent of N, less than or equal to 0.002 percent of O and the balance of Fe and inevitable impurity elements. The preparation method comprises the procedures of molten steel smelting, refining and deoxidizing, continuous casting, rolling, quenching and tempering which are conducted in sequence, the soft argon blowing time in the refining and deoxidizing procedure is larger than or equal to 30 min, the final secondary cooling water amount in the continuous casting procedure is controlled to be 0.5-0.9 L/kg steel, and through steelmaking component control, temperature control, slag charge control, refining and deoxidizing control, argon blowing control, alloy optimization control and low residual element control, the production efficiency of the steel is improved. And through the controlled rolling and controlled cooling process, the transverse performance, ductility, toughness and compactness are guaranteed, the overall hardness, tensile strength, yield strength and impact toughness are improved, the strength and toughness of the wind power gear steel are both considered, and the tooth breaking risk is avoided.