A water-based surface-treating agent for metallic materials which gives a film highly satisfactory in corrosion resistance, blackening resistance, wet secondary adhesion to topcoatings, low-pollution characteristics (amount of fixed chromium), chemical resistance (especially acid resistance and alkali resistance), etc., while retaining the intact practical liquid stability of conventional chromate-containing resinous coating agents. The water-based surface-treating agent comprises a synthetic resin emulsion and hexavalent chromium ions and has a pH of 5 or lower, the synthetic resin emulsion being one obtained by emulsion-polymerizing the following ingredients using a nonionic polymerizable emulsifier and a nonionic nonpolymerizable emulsifier: (1) an ethylenic carboxylic acid, (2) a functional acrylic monomer having at least one of N-((un)substituted methylol)carbamoyl, phosphonate, alkoxy, cyano, and carbamoyl groups, and (3) a third monomer which is different from the ingredients (1) and (2) and forms the skeleton of the copolymer to be obtained.