The invention relates to high-performance ceramsite based on phosphate tailings and a preparation method of the high-performance ceramsite. According to the technical scheme, 80-95 wt% of high-silicon phosphate tailings and 5-20 wt% of high-magnesium calcium phosphate tailings are used as raw materials, 3-5 wt% of dextrin is added, and the raw materials are mixed to be uniform; putting the mixture into a granulator, spraying a 3% polyvinyl alcohol aqueous solution which accounts for 2-5wt% of the mixture under a rotating condition, granulating, and drying; heating to 950-1080 DEG C in a medium-temperature furnace at the speed of 2-3 DEG C/min, preserving heat for 2-4 hours, and cooling along with the furnace; and putting the mixture into a modified solution with the concentration of 0.5-3 mol/L, oscillating for 1-1.5 hours in a constant-temperature oscillator, standing and drying to obtain the high-performance ceramsite based on the phosphate tailings. The method has the characteristics of high resource rate of the phosphate tailings, simple process, low production cost and short production period, and the prepared high-performance ceramsite based on the phosphate tailings is high in strength, high in apparent porosity, small in volume density, low in hydrochloric acid solubility and high in removal rate of heavy metal ions Ag < 2 + >, Ni < 2 + > and Cu < 2 + >.