The invention discloses an airlift photobioreactor for microalgae culture, and belongs to the technical field of biological culture of microalgae. The photobioreactor includes a cylinder body, a culture liquid inlet, a culture liquid outlet, a guide cylinder, an air distributor, a light source, a sieve plate and an overflow mouth, wherein the top of the cylinder body is a gas-liquid separation zone, the guide cylinder is a hollow type, and is installed inside the cylinder body, and air outlets are evenly distributed inside the guide cylinder; nozzles are arranged at the air outlets, multiple gas outlets are evenly formed in the exterior of the guide cylinder along the circumference of the guide cylinder, and the light source is installed inside the wall of the guide cylinder; the air distributor is arranged at the bottom of the guide cylinder, the sieve plate is arranged inside the cylinder body, and the sieve plate is arranged along the height of the cylinder body; and the overflow mouth is formed in the gas-liquid separation zone. Through the photobioreactor, not only can the utilization rate of light and CO2 in the system be improved effectively, but also microalgae can be prevented from sticking to the wall effectively, the photobioreactor is suitable for culture of multiple floating microalgae of different scales, and is suitable for market promotion and application.