Hydrophilic hexadecylpyridinium chloride ionic liquid constructed water-in-oil microemulsion was applied for the continuous extraction of gold(III) in a microreactor system. The anion exchange extraction mechanism was proven by spectroscopic techniques. In this extraction system, the remarkable extraction ability for gold(III) with the extraction percentage of 99.2% at the residence time of 14.7 s, and high selectivities for gold(III) over Ni(II), Fe(III), Cu(II), and Al(III) were achieved. Moreover, a higher flow rate and a smaller inner diameter of the capillary were beneficial for the gold(III) extraction, and the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient (0.33-2.9 s(-1)) was higher than other metal ion extraction systems in microreactors, or the same extraction system in a batch reactor (0.007 to 0.103 s(-1)). Furthermore, the microemulsion recycling was realized, indicating such a study extends the applications of hydrophilic ionic liquids and microreactor technology on noble metal extraction.