The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of composition and content of surface oxides of high strength steel DP980 on bonding properties, so as to improve the bonding properties of dual-phase high strength steel. In this paper, 1wt.% acetic acid solution was used to etch the surface of high strength dual phase steels DP980 at different times. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were used to observe the microstructures of oxides on the surface of high strength steel. Electro-Probe Microanalyzer (EPMA) were used to identify the elements distribution of DP980 before and after acid pickling. Glow discharge spectroscopy (GDS) were used to explore the variation of surface elements content with depth of DP980 treated with different pickling times. The XPS sputtering results further confirmed this conclusion. According to the peak fitting results of the high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra for Si and Mn elements, different kinds of surface oxides for high strength steel DP980 were characterized. In addition, the influence of pickling treatment on surface wettability of high strength steel was also analyzed by contact angle test. Finally, the bonding experiments of high strength steel treated with different pickling time were carried out to explore the influence of the content, morphologies and types of surface oxides on bonding properties of high strength steel surface.