The invention discloses a clean viscous acid for acid fracturing of a carbonate reservoir, which is applied to the technical fields of acidification and acid fracturing of petroleum carbonate reservoirs. The clean viscous acid consists of the following components in percentage by weight: 3-7 percent of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide, 0.3-0.7 percent of sodium salicylate, 15-28 percent of hydrochloric acid, 0.125-0.25 percent of citric acid or 0.05-0.1 percent of CX-301 or 0.3-0.5 percent of TW-1 serving as an iron ion stabilizing agent, 0.2-0.25 percent of a diimidazoline quaternary ammonium salt and the balance of water. The clean viscous acid has high retardative property, the retarding rate can reach 42-56 percent, the fresh acid viscosity is 25-40 mPa.S, and the acid liquor viscosity rises during acid fracturing of the carbonate reservoir. When the hydrogen ion concentration falls till the pH is more than or equal to 2, the acid liquor viscosity rises for forming viscoelastic gel, the permeation resistance of an acid liquor in a high permeation layer is increased, and the length of an acid etching crack is prolonged. Reacted residual acid gel can undergo gel breaking automatically, is free from residues, is easy for discharging, and has small damage to stratums.