Provided is a steel wire rod for wire drawing containing, in terms of % by mass, C: from 0.90 to 1.20%, Si: from 0.10 to 1.30%, Mn: from 0.20 to 1.00%, Cr: from 0.20 to 1.30%, Al: from 0.005 to 0.050%, and the balance being composed of Fe and impurities, wherein a content of each N, P, and S, which are contained as the impurities, is N: from 0.0070% or less, P: from 0.030% or less, S: from 0.010% or less, and the steel wire rod having a metallographic structure of which 95% or more by volume ratio is a lamellar pearlite structure, wherein the lamellar pearlite structure has an average lamellar spacing of from 50 to 75 nm, an average length of cementites in the lamellar pearlite structure is 1.0 to 4.0 μm, and a percentage of a number of cementites having a length of 0.5 μm or less among the cementites in the lamellar pearlite structure is 20% or less.