The technology of amalgamation and gilding in China originated before the Warring States period and greatly improved the ornamental value and corrosion resistance of bronzes, thus bringing a new atmosphere to the bronze culture of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Due to long-time underground burial, gilt bronze wares are often found, after excavation, covered with a hard layer of soil rust, which seriously affects their appearance and subsequent stabilization treatments. At present, methods of removing rust from gilt bronze wares include wet chemical, laser ablation and mechanical methods, all of which have some problems. Based on corrosion characteristics of gilt bronzes, we created a new method for removal of rust based on a composite hydrogel system, where acrylic acid and polyvinyl alcohol act as gelling agents, and solutions of weakly acidic formic acid and cysteine are used for washing. Implementation of this method shows that it can remove the rust (i.e, cuprite, malachite and azurite) from the gilding layer efficiently without damaging the surfaces of cultural relics. This method is suitable for cleaning complicated surfaces, in that it can reduce corrosion damage and also conforms to the principle and requirement of “minimal intervention” and “not changing appearance” for cultural relic conservation.