The invention relates to a method for recovering noble metals from spent automotive exhaust catalysts, comprising the following processes: 1. mixing the spent automotive exhaust catalyst with a reducing agent, an additive and a trapping agent; 2. putting the mixed materials into a clay graphite crucible, and putting the clay graphite crucible into an electric furnace or an electric arc furnace for smelting, thus obtaining a noble metal phase; 3. selectively leaching base metals from the noble metal phase, thus obtaining the enrichment of the noble metal, refining the enrichment of the noble metal to produce platinum, palladium and rhodium products. The method is characterized by simple process flow and high recovery rates of noble metals. The platinum, palladium and rhodium in the waste slag are less than 1g/t and the product purity is 99.95%.