The paper aims to prepare aluminum-based superhydrophobic surface by chemical etching and improve its mechanical stability and chemical stability. A simple way of chemical etching with HCl and p-toluenesulfonic acid (TSA) was employed to prepare a superhydrophobic Al surface with micro-nano structure after being modified by stearic acid. Initially, the optimum etching concentration and etching time were analyzed. The surface morphology and chemical composition were characterized by using FESEM, EDS and ATR-FTIR. The surface wettability, corrosion resistance and mechanical stability were investigated by optical contact angle meter, electrochemical workstation and linear abrasion resistance test, respectively. The chemical stability of superhydrophobic surface was tested in 3.5% NaCl solution. The results showed that it exhibited an excellent wettability with 167.9° contact angle (CA) and 6.3° sliding angle (SA) under 0.2 M TSA and being etched for 8.0 min. The results of corrosion resistance test indicated that there was a one-order of magnitude of reduction of the corrosion current density (Jcorr) and corrosion potential shifted forward with 742 mV compared to untreated Al. The fabricated uniform micro-nano structure coated by stearic acid had both excellent mechanical and chemical stabilities: it maintained an excellent CA as high as 155.9° even after abrasion for 70 cm and the superhydrophobic surface was stable on a sticky superhydrophobic state after being dipped at 3.5% NaCl solution for 20 days. A micro-nano roughness structure is prepared on the Al substrate by adjusting the chemical etching time and the TSA concentration, and the superhydrophobic coating is obtained after modified stearic acid. The superhydrophobic surface has both excellent mechanical and chemical stability. In addition, it can protect Al substrate from corrosion in a high salt environment.