Provided are a porous valve metal thin film having a great surface area, a method for the production thereof, and a thin film capacitor having a great capacity density utilizing the thin film as an anode. The porous valve metal thin film is produced by preparing a thin film in which a valve metal and a hetero-phase component have a particle diameter within a range of from 1 nm to 1 μm and the valve metal and the hetero-phase component are uniformly distributed, subjecting the thin film to a heat treatment so as to adjust the particle diameter and to appropriately sinter the film, and removing the hetero-phase portion.