The invention provides a method for recycling a waste nickel-cadmium cell. The method comprises the following steps: mixing the waste nickel-cadmium cell material, an HCl solution and a compound to obtain a metal ionic mixed solution, wherein the compound is tartaric acid and/or sodium tartrate; regulating pH to be 4-7; filtering to obtain a pre-treated solution; regulating the pH of the pre-treated solution to be 8-11; filtering to obtain cadmium hydroxide and filtrate; regulating the pH of the filtrate to be 5-7; mixing with calcium nitrate; reacting to obtain a nickel nitrate solution and calcium tartrate; and regulating the pH of the nickel nitrate solution to be 7-12 to obtain nickelous hydroxide. According to the method, a recovery device used in the method is simple, and convenientto operate; the nickel and cadmium are separated and recovered based on different pH; the method is simple; the recovery rate and the purity are high; general agents are adopted; tartaric acid or sodium tartrate are recyclable, so that the cost is low; toxic agents such as sulfide are not used, so that secondary pollution is not caused; tartaric acid or sodium tartrate is capable of increasing themetal dissolution speed and rate.