The invention discloses a silicon-carbon composite anode comprising a silicon source and a carbon source, wherein silicon source is monatomic silicon, the particle size distribution is 100 nm to 80 microns, and the mass of the silicon source accounts for 10-80% of the total mass of the silicon-carbon composite anode; the carbon source comprises a carbon anode material and a conductive agent, the carbon anode material is one or more of carbon fiber, graphite and mesocarbon microbead, and the mass of the carbon anode material accounts for 10-90% of the total mass of the carbon source. According to the silicon-carbon composite anode disclosed by the invention, one-step coating forming, hot pressing flaking, carbonization treatment and high-temperature calcination are carried out on anode slurry prepared by mixing the silicon source with the carbon source, so as to guarantee that the silicon material is effectively dispersed in a carbon skeleton, the prepared silicon-carbon anode can effectively relieve the volume expansion of the silicon material in charging and discharging processes in a circulation process and guarantee excellent cycle performance of the battery; the silicon-carbon composite anode is prepared by one-step coating forming, and no current collector is needed, so that the production process is simplified and the battery is guaranteed to have high energy density; meanwhile, the invention further provides a lithium ion battery containing the silicon-carbon composite anode.