A novel preparation method for the anti-gout drug Lesinurad, and a key intermediate thereof. The method comprises the following reaction steps: 1) the compound of formula II undergoing a substitution reaction with R3—SH in the presence of a first solvent and a first alkali to generate a mixture containing the compound of formula III and the compound of formula IV; 2) adding a second alkali and R3X to the resulting mixture for a reaction to obtain the compound of formula III, wherein: R represents a cyclopropane group, a halogen, a triflate group, a mesylate group or a tosylate group, preferably a cyclopropane group; R3 represents —COCH3, a benzyl group or —CH2R4, wherein R4 represents a methyl acetate group, an ethyl acetate group, —C(O)OC2H5, —C(O)OCH3, —CN, —CH2OH or a phenyl group substituted with one or more of a C1-C6 alkyl group and a halogen; X represents a halogen. The process of the present invention directly converts the compound of formula IV into the product compound of formula III without separation, significantly increasing the reaction yield and simplifying the operation steps. In addition, the synthesis of the new intermediate of the present invention does not require the use of highly toxic thiophosgene and carbon disulphide, significantly improving the safety and environmental friendliness of the process.