The present invention relates to a microporous membrane material, particularly relates to diaphragm for lithium ion batteries and a preparation method thereof, and belongs to the technical field of membrane. The diaphragm is a composite microporous membrane prepared from a polyolefin intermediate layer and fluorine-containing polymer outer layers of the same thickness on both sides by melt extrusion, biaxial stretching and heat setting processes, wherein the polyolefin layer is a polyvinyl layer, a polypropylene layer or a composite layer of polyethylene and polypropylene, the fluorine-containing polymer outer layer is a melt-processable modified vinyl fluorine resin layer which is copolymerized by vinyl fluoride, ethylene and fluorine-containing functional monomer, the thickness of the composite microporous membrane is 5-30 microns, the fluorine-containing polymer outer layer at one side is 1-10 microns, the pore diameter is of 0.01-0.1 microns, and the porosity is of 50-80%. The diaphragm prepared by the invention is uniform in thickness and pore size, stable in dimension, excellent in mechanical property and chemical stability, good in electrolyte wettability and electrode adhesion, simple in preparation process and easy to implement.