The invention belongs to the field of lithium ion battery materials, and provides a single-crystal ternary cathode material containing microelements and a preparation method thereof. A general formulaof the cathode material is LiNixCoyMn1-x-y(M+N)zO2, wherein 0.3 <=x<=0.75, 0.15<=y<=0.3, 0<=z<=0.1, and the M and N elements are respectively at least one selected from the group consisting of Mg, Ti, Al, Zr, La, Y, W, Mn and Ba, and the average particle size of the single-crystal ternary cathode material is 3.0-8.0 [mu]m. According to the cathode material, through compound doping and coating ofone or more of microelement compounds, lithium-nickel disordering of a ternary cathode can be effectively reduced, so that the cycle performance, discharge voltage and rate performance of the materialcan be further improved, and the advantages of high charging voltage and a high compaction density of the single-crystal ternary material are maintained.