The work aims to improve the corrosion resistance of copper in marine environment. The superhydrophobic structure was prepared on the copper surface by chemical etching and electrochemical oxidation film formation. Single factor experiments were applied to investigate the rule of effect of stearic acid concentration, benzotriazole concentration, electrodeposition voltage and electrodeposition time on the contact angle of the prepared surface structure. The corrosion resistance of copper-based superhydrophobic structure in 3.5% NaCl solution was investigated by potentiodynamic polarization curve and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Results revealed that, the contact angle of the prepared copper-based superhydrophobic structure reached 158° and the sliding angle was 3° when stearic acid concentration was 0.02 mol/L, benzotriazole concentration was 40 mg/L, electrodeposition voltage was 8 V and corrosion time was 12 h. The potentiodynamic polarization test indicated that, both the anodic and cathodic reactions were restrained by the superhydrophobic surface; the self-corrosion current density of the copper in the 3.5% NaCl solution and subject to superhydrophobic treatment was decreased by two orders of magnitude, compared with the untreated copper, and the corrosion inhibition efficiency was as high as 99%. The electrochemical impedance measurements suggested that, the copper-based superhydrophobic film had excellent corrosion resistance when the charge transfer resistance increased from 1.61 kΩ?cm2 to 41.3 kΩ?cm2. Therefore, the superhydrophobic structure can be prepared on the copper surface by chemical etching and electrochemical oxidation film formation and exhibits excellent corrosion resistance in marine environment.