The invention discloses iodide-N-ethyl-2-(2-H-naphthopyran-3-vinyl) benzothiazole, a preparation method and application thereof in detecting cyanide ions. The iodide-N-ethyl-2-(2-H-naphthopyran-3-vinyl) benzothiazole adopts naphthopyran as an electron-donating group, adopts quaternary ammonium salt of benzothiazole as an electron-withdrawing group, and adopts C=C double bonds as a reactive combination site, the cyanide ions can have an additive reaction with the C=N double bonds of the benzothiazole in a receptor molecule, thus leading to the blocking of charge transfer in the receptor molecule, so that the receptor molecule is varied in color and fluorescence. An effect of the compound on identifying negative ions such as CN-F-, Cl-, Br-, I-, Ac-, H2PO4-, HSO4-, ClO4-, S2-, SCN- and the like is researched by virtue of a colorimetric method, ultraviolet-visible absorption spectrometry and a fluorescent spectrometry, the receptor compound can independently and selectively identify the cyanide ions in a HEPES-DMSO-H2O system, the minimum detection limit can reach 2.9*10<-7> mol.L<-1>, and the application value in detecting the cyanide in drinking water is great.