The invention discloses a method for direct recovery and restoration of a lithium ion battery positive electrode material, and belongs to the field of resource recycling. According to the method, waste positive electrode pieces of lithium cobaltate or lithium nickel manganese cobalt multi-element layered oxide or a positive electrode piece leftover material and defective products are used as a positive electrode material; the materials are classified according to the type of binder by component analysis, the binder is directly damaged, cleaning and separation of the positive electrode material and a current collector are realized; by use of a heavy liquid separation principle, the positive electrode and a conductive agent are separated; the positive electrode failure mechanism is studied by use of SEM (scanning electron microscope), XRD (X-ray diffraction), STEM (scanning transmission electron microscope), XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and other analysis means; chemical components of the positive electrode material with the layered structure not damaged can be repaired by high temperature roasting, the layered structure of the positive electrode material with disordered and defective crystal lattice can be repaired by dissolving with a hydrothermal reaction and then precipitation, and the positive electrode material with good charge discharge performances can be again obtained. The method avoids the dissolving leaching process, reduces waste liquid generation, and simplifies the technological process.