The present invention provides a production method for the easy production of an antireflection film which has excellent antireflection properties, excellent scratch resistance, and antifouling performance and with which the occurrence of faint whitening that has thus far not been addressed is controlled, as well as an antireflection film, and a polarizing plate and image display device that use the film. The production method for producing an antireflection film involves performing, in the following order, a step (1) for forming a coating film by applying, on a transparent substrate, a composition containing at least a fluorine-containing compound, microparticles, and a binder resin and that is for forming a low-refractive-index layer, a step (2) for phase separation of the coating film into a low-refractive-index phase and an antifouling phase, and a step (3) for forming a low-refractive-index layer and an antifouling layer for covering the entire surface of the low-refractive-index layer by heating the low-refractive-index phase and the antifouling phase, or by exposing the low-refractive-index phase and the antifouling phase to ionizing radiation. In the production method, at least a transparent substrate, a low-refractive-index layer, and an antifouling layer are formed in that order, and the fluorine atom / carbon atom ratio measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) from the antifouling layer side is between 0.6 and 1.0, the silicon atom / carbon atom ratio is less than 0.25, and the average surface roughness of the antifouling layer (Ra') is 10 nm or less.