Some characteristics were used in the image segmentation algorithms, these algorithms have the inevitable limitations, so the appropriate methods were selected for a variety of practical applications in the field of demand. Some threshold segmentation, edge detection algorithms were discussed, the Otsu algorithm and the improved Otsu algorithm were studied in this article. The results of the simulation by different images were analysed, studied, compared. The results show that the improved Otsu algorithm can effectively improve the quality of image segmentation.