A method for manufacturing a surface acoustic wave element including: forming a conductive film on a surface of a piezoelectric substrate; forming a photoresist film on the conductive film; printing a pattern by exposing and developing the pattern, which is originally provided on a photomask, onto the photoresist film by reduced projection; forming an electrode of a surface acoustic wave element by etching the conductive film using the patterned photoresist film as a mask; measuring a resonant frequency of the surface acoustic wave element formed on the piezoelectric substrate; calculating an anodic oxidation voltage based on an amount of anodic oxidation of the electrode that is calculated in advance from the measured resonant frequency and a preset target resonant frequency; and performing anodic oxidation based on the anodic oxidation voltage calculated in the voltage calculation step and finishing anodic oxidation after detecting an end-point of oxidation reaction of the electrode.