To surely improve all adhesion performance including the initial adhesion performance between a brass-plated steel wire and a rubber, the adhesion performance in an overcured state and the heat-resistant adhesion performance.

The brass-plated steel wire 10 for rubber article reinforcement is produced by drawing a steel wire 12 having a crystalline brass-plated layer 11 on the surface in a state to lower the lubricity to an extent, and the produced brass-plated wire has a brass plated layer 11 composed of 67-70 wt.% copper and 30-33 wt.% zinc and provided with a laminated structure part 13 composed of a surface-side non-crystalline part 11a formed of crystal particles having a particle diameter of 20 nm and an inside crystalline part 11b formed of crystal particles having a particle diameter of 20 nm. The areal ratio defined by the ratio of the surface of the non-crystalline part 11a to the total surface of the brass-plated layer 11 is 20% and the volume ratio defined by the ratio of the laminated structure part 13 to the total brass-plated layer 11 is 20% and 80%.