A production method for producing a nickel composite hydroxide that is a precursor to a cathode active material for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, the nickel composite hydroxide having a composition that is expressed by a general expression: Ni 1-x-y Co x M y 2+A (where 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.35, 0 ≤ y ≤ 0.35, 0 ≤ A ≤ 0. 5, and M is at least one additional element that is selected from the group comprising Mn, V, Mg, Al, Ti, Mo, Nb, Zr and W); the method producing the nickel composite hydroxide by supplying an aqueous solution that includes at least a nickel salt, a neutralizing agent and an ammonium ion donor capable of forming a nickel ammine complex in a reaction aqueous solution to a reaction vessel while stirring, and performing a crystallization reaction, components of the aqueous solution being determined depending on the target nickel composite hydroxide expressed by said general expression Ni 1-x-y Co x M y 2+A, the salt concentration of the aqueous solution in the total for all salts being 1.0 mol/L to 2.2 mol/L, and the added amount of the ammonium ion donor being 5g/L to 20 g/L as the concentration in the reaction aqueous solution, comprising: a primary crystallization process of obtaining a nickel composite hydroxide slurry from the reaction aqueous solution while performing control by adjusting a pH of the slurry to be within a range of 10 to 12.5 at a reference liquid temperature of 25 °C, and a reaction temperature of the slurry with in a range of 40 °C to 70 °C, so that a ratio of an average particle size per volume of secondary particles of nickel composite hydroxide that are generated inside the reaction vessel with respect to an average particle size per volume of secondary particles of nickel composite hydroxide that will finally be obtained becomes 0.2 to 0.6; and a second crystallization process of continuing the crystallization reaction while performing control by adjusting the pH of the slurry to be within the range of 10 to 12.5 at a reference liquid temperature of 25 °C, a concentration of the nickel ammine complex in the slurry to be within a range of 200 mg/L to 1500 mg/L, and a reaction temperature of the slurry with in a range of 40 °C to 70 °C until the average particles size per volume of secondary particles of the nickel composite hydroxide becomes 8.0 μm to 50.0 μm, while at the same time maintaining an amount of the slurry obtained in the primary crystallization process and continually removing only a liquid component of the slurry, to obtain the nickel composite hydroxide comprising secondary particles of nickel composite hydroxide that are formed by an aggregation of plural primary particles, the secondary particles having an average particle size per volume that is within a range of 8.0 μm to 50.0 μm, and (D90 - D10)/MV that indicates a particle size distribution per volume that is within a range of 0.35 to 0.48. a primary crystallization process of obtaining a nickel composite hydroxide slurry from the reaction aqueous solution while performing control by adjusting a pH of the slurry to be within a range of 10 to 12.5 at a reference liquid temperature of 25 °C, and a reaction temperature of the slurry with in a range of 40 °C to 70 °C, so that a ratio of an average particle size per volume of secondary particles of nickel composite hydroxide that are generated inside the reaction vessel with respect to an average particle size per volume of secondary particles of nickel composite hydroxide that will finally be obtained becomes 0.2 to 0.6; and a second crystallization process of continuing the crystallization reaction while performing control by adjusting the pH of the slurry to be within the range of 10 to 12.5 at a reference liquid temperature of 25 °C, a concentration of the nickel ammine complex in the slurry to be within a range of 200 mg/L to 1500 mg/L, and a reaction temperature of the slurry with in a range of 40 °C to 70 °C until the average particles size per volume of secondary particles of the nickel composite hydroxide becomes 8.0 μm to 50.0 μm, while at the same time maintaining an amount of the slurry obtained in the primary crystallization process and continually removing only a liquid component of the slurry, to obtain the nickel composite hydroxide comprising secondary particles of nickel composite hydroxide that are formed by an aggregation of plural primary particles, the secondary particles having an average particle size per volume that is within a range of 8.0 μm to 50.0 μm, and (D90 - D10)/MV that indicates a particle size distribution per volume that is within a range of 0.35 to 0.48.