To enhance the cleaning efficiency of the ice abrasive water jet (IAWJ), the nozzle in the jet structure was optimized. The cleaning effect of nozzle with different structural design is different. The design variables include the geometric parameters of the nozzle's structure and the flow process parameters of the jet. The maximum wall static pressure, outlet velocity and wash width are the optimization objectives. Based on the Optimal Latin Hypercube Sampling (OLHS) method, 50 sets of sample capacity were designed for simulation calculation. The parameter functions associated with the three objectives were fitted by MATLAB. The Competitive mechanism multi-objective particle swarm optimizer (CMOPSO) algorithm was used to optimize the nozzle to improve the cleaning effect, which was verified with the test results. The inlet pressure and outlet diameter are critical factors influencing the cleaning effect of the IAWJ. The maximum wall static pressure produced by the optimized nozzle is about 4.5% higher than that of the ordinary cosine nozzle. The cleaning effect of the optimized nozzle is 10% higher than that of the ordinary cosine nozzle, which is verified by the experiments. The optimization of the nozzle serves as a valuable reference for the nozzle structure design of the cleaning machine. •The inlet pressure and outlet diameter of the nozzle are the most important factors on the cleaning effect of the ice abrasive water jet (IAWJ).•A three-objective optimization model of nozzle is designed based on the Competitive mechanism multi-objective particle swarm optimizer (CMOPSO) algorithm and Optimal Latin hypercube Sampling (OLHS) method.•The optimized nozzle cleaning rate can reach 90%.