A copper foil for a printed wiring board which has a carbon-containing copper-zinc coating comprising 40 to 90 atomic % of copper, 5 to 50 atomic % of zinc and 0.1 to 20 atomic % of carbon is produced by dipping a copper foil in a non-cyanide copper-zinc electroplating bath containing a copper salt, a zinc salt, a hydroxycarboxylic acid or a salt thereof, an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid or a salt thereof and a thiocyanic acid or a salt thereof, and carrying out electrolysis in the non-cyanide copper-zinc electroplating bath using the copper foil as a cathode to form on at least one surface of the copper foil a carbon-containing copper-zinc coating.