Abstract: The present invention provides an efficient ultrasonic phased array phase shift migration imaging method for the defect in a multi-layer structure, including the following steps: (1) transforming full matrix capture data of a multi-layer structure to a frequency-wavenumber domain by means of three-dimensional fast Fourier transform; (2) for any non-traversed layer in the multi-layer structure, extrapolating a surface wave field of the multi-layer structure to an upper interface of the non-traversed layer, to obtain wave field information of the non-traversed layer; (3) according to the obtained wave field information, performing focus imaging on the non-traversed layer in the frequency-wavenumber domain; and (4) repeating the steps (2) and (3), until all layers are traversed, to obtain an imaging result of the multi-layer structure.