The invention provides a method for breaking a high-voltage (HV) superconducting current-limiting direct current (DC) circuit breaker. The method comprises the following steps: when a HVDC side is in short-circuit fault and current / current rising steepness rises rapidly and reaches a critical value of a current limiter, a superconducting material quenches immediately, impedance rises steeply, short-circuit current is limited within set values, and meanwhile, an instruction is sent to an ultra-quick mechanical switch; the ultra-quick mechanical switch acts immediately, enables contacts to separate at an ultrahigh rigid separating speed so as to form a physical gap and generate electric arcs, and immediately sends a breaking instruction to a power electronic switch; the power electronic switch quickly breaks the short-circuit current and enables the electric arcs between the contacts to be extinguished, so as to form an isolated fracture; when the contacts are separated to final open positions and current in a lightning arrester is attenuated to zero, the HV superconducting current-limiting DC circuit breaker completes a whole breaking process, and a HVDC transmission power grid is isolated from a faulty line. The method has the advantages that the cost performances of different components are taken into account comprehensively, so that the cooperation is optimized; the number of components and devices is reduced as much as possible, so that the size is reduced, the weight is reduced, and the reliability is improved.