The typical fluoride-containing spent cathode from aluminum electrolysis industry is usually hard to be disposed, and a processing technique combining roasting and water leaching was adopted to remove fluorine in the spent cathode. The effects of parameters, including dosage of defluorination agent, roasting temperature, roasting time, liquid-solid ratio for water leaching, and water leaching time, on the fluorine content in water-leached residues were investigated. The results show that after 60 min roasting at 600 ℃ with 25% defluorinating agent, and 30 min water leaching with liquid-solid ratio of 8 L/kg, the leaching residue contains 1.12% fluorine and is mainly composed of carbon, calcium fluoride and sodium silicate aluminate, without leaching toxicity, which is ordinary solid waste. It is concluded that the processing technique consisting of roasting and water leaching can effectively remove fluorine from typical fluoride-containing spent cathode.