To provide a method for removing salt contained in phenol tar.

The method for producing phenol by the cumene method, comprising a neutralization process for neutralizing the acid decomposition reaction solution of cumene hydroperoxide with an alkali, a phase separation process for separating the neutralized reaction solution into an oil phase and a water phase, a distillation process for distilling the obtained oil phase to distil out acetone, cumene, α-methylstyrene and phenol, and a thermal decomposition process for thermally decomposing the phenol tar as the distillation residue of the distillation process to produce and recover the cumene, the α-methylstyrene and the phenol, is characterized by mixing the phenol tar with an organic solvent, washing the obtained mixture liquid with washing water to reduce the contained salt, and then supplying the washed phenol tar to the thermal decomposition process.