The present invention provides a method for easily manufacturing an anti-reflection film, an anti-reflection film, a polarizing plate and an image display device obtained by using the film. The anti-reflection film has excellent anti-reflection property, excellent scratch resistance and stain resistance, and inhibits the occurrence of slight whitening which has not been answered until now. The method for manufacturing the anti-reflection film contains three steps in order. The step (1) is coating the component for forming a low-refraction layer on the transparent substrate and forming the coating film, wherein the component at least includes fluorine containing compounds, particles, and binder resin. The step (2) is phase-separating the coating film into a low-refraction phase and a stain-resistance phase. The step (3) is heating the low-refraction phase and the stain-resistance phase, or irradiating the low-refraction phase and the stain-resistance phase by the ionization radiation, and then forming the low-refraction layer and the stain-resistance layer covering the whole surface of the low-refraction layer. The anti-reflection film has at least the transparent substrate, the low-refraction layer and the stain-resistance layer in order. The ratio of fluorine atom and carbon atom measured by X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS) from the side of the stain-resistance layer is 0.6 to 1.0, and the ratio of silicon atom and carbon atom is less than 0.25. The average surface roughness (Ra') of the stain-resistance layer is less than or equal to 10 nm.
Method for manufacturing anti-reflection film, anti-reflection film, polarizing plate, and image display device