The invention discloses a method for promoting haematococcus pluvialis to produce astaxanthin by utilizing butylated hydroxyanisole. Firstly, a haematococcus pluvialis solution is prepared, in the later period of the logarithmic phase of haematococcus pluvialis, the cell concentration reaches 10<6> cells mL<-1>, the solution is diluted with a nitrogen-deficient BBM culture medium until the concentration of the solution reaches 2*10<5> cells mL<-1>, and the solution for induction is obtained; then, a butylated hydroxyanisole mother solution with the concentration being 128 g L<-1> is prepared with DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) and added to the diluted induction solution, and accordingly, the concentration of butylated hydroxyanisole reaches 4.95-5.05 mg L<-1>; the solution is cultured, after cells of algae completely turn red, the cells of algae are collected, and at the moment, the astaxanthin accumulation quantity reaches the maximum. The method is simple and feasible, the cost is low, the time consumed when haematococcus pluvialis turns red is greatly shortened, the quantity of astaxanthin is remarkably increased, and the yield of astaxanthin is greatly increased.