The machining residual stress produced in the cutting process of aluminum alloy parts can easily lead to a scrap of the processed parts. In order to reduce the residual stress of aluminum alloy in the milling process, based on the Taguchi-Grey relational approach, the effects of different milling parameters on the residual stress and surface roughness of 2A12 aluminum alloy were studied. To reduce the residual stress and surface roughness of 2A12 aluminum alloy, optimized milling parameters were obtained. To further reduce the milling residual stress of 2A12 aluminum alloy, the samples processed by the optimized milling parameters were treated by cryogenic treatment and artificial aging. The residual stress of the sample was measured by the blind hole drilling method, and the evolution mechanism of the microstructure to reduce the machining residual stress was revealed. The results show that the combination of deep cooling treatment and oil bath aging can effectively reduce the residual stress on the machined surface of the aluminum alloy and facilitate a more uniform distribution of the residual stress inside the specimen. The effect of the coarse second phase on the residual stress in the microstructure is not significant, and the fine and diffusely distributed precipitation phase is beneficial to the reduction of the residual stress in the aluminum alloy.