To improve the photoemission performance of the current InGaAs photocathode and explore a new activation recipe， two activation experiments of Cs/NF₃ and Cs/O were utilized to study the effects of different activation recipes on the performance of the InGaAs photocathode. For InGaAs samples of the same photocathode structure， activation experiments， decay experiments， spectral response measurements， and surface element composition analysis were performed to analyze the relationships between the activation recipes and the characteristics of the photocathode from the perspectives of the white light photocurrent， stability， spectral response， and surface element composition. The experimental results for Cs/NF₃ and Cs/O activation are as follows. The InGaAs photocathode sample activated by Cs/NF₃ is significantly better than that activated by Cs/O with regard to the white-light photocurrent， spectral response， and cutoff wavelength， and the enhancement effect of the spectral response is particularly obvious in the near-infrared range. At 1 064 nm， the spectral response of the sample activated by Cs/NF₃ is 4.7 times that of the sample activated by Cs/O. In contrast to the phenomenon that the GaAs photocathode can become more stable through Cs/NF₃ activation， the stability of the InGaAs sample activated by Cs/O is significantly better than that of the sample activated by Cs/NF₃. In addition， the advantages of the cutoff wavelength and spectral response induced by Cs/NF₃ activation are lost after decay.