The work aims to explore the influence of hot acid etching surface treatments on the bonding strength of zirconia and veneering porcelain compared with traditional pre-treatments. 40 zirconia porcelain cubes were randomly divided into four groups. Group A was the airborne particle abrasion group, group B was the hot acid etching group, group C was the sandblasting combined with hot acid etching group, and group D was the blank control group. After the four experiment groups were treated using different surface methods, a sample piece was randomly selected from each group to observe the interface bonding by scanning electron microscope, EDS and X-ray diffractometer. The shear strength of each porcelain blocks was tested by electronic universal testing machine and the experimental values were statistically analyzed using SPSS 20.0 software, with the test level of α=0.05. The result showed that a three-dimensional stratified structure containing a great deal of holes were formed on the treated surface. The surface roughness in hot acid-etching group was 0.489 μm and increased by 54.75% than the control group (0.316 μm). Besides, the proportion of m-ZrO2 was about 12.57% and apparently higher than that in the other two experimental groups. The residual proportion of veneering was high and the failure mode was cohesive fracture in hot acid etching group. The shear strength value in group B was (25.43±1.57) MPa, which increased by 66.86% (P<0.05) compared with the value in control group and was the highest among the four groups. The surface roughness in sandblasting with hot acid-etching group was 0.634 μm, which was the biggest value in the four groups. Significant rough bonding surfaces were formed on the treated surfaces of the sandblasting group and the sandblasting with hot acid etching group. There were large amount of Al2O3 residual in the sandblasting group. The surface roughness was 0.521 μm and increased by 6.54% than that in the hot acid etching group, but the distinction in mean values of shear strength between the two groups didn’t have statistical difference (P>0.05). The adhesive strength values in control group were much smaller than the experimental groups (P<0.05). Hot acid etching treatment could effectively improve the adhesive strength between ZrO2 and veneering porcelain, as well as cause the least transformation of crystal structure and micro cracks, so it is suitable for zirconia surface treatment.