The invention discloses a multi-turn absolute type double-reading group combined photoelectric shaft angle encoder, and belongs to the technical field of photoelectric measurement. The encoder comprises a main shaft, a primary luminous panel, a primary coded disc, a primary slit, a primary receiver plate, an amplification circuit, a shaping and latch circuit, an analogue-to-digital conversion circuit, a data processing circuit, a secondary main shaft, a secondary luminous panel, a secondary coded disc, a secondary slit and a secondary receiver plate, wherein the front end of the main shaft is connected with the primary luminous panel, the primary coded disc, the primary slit and the primary receiver plate; the front end of the secondary main shaft is connected with the secondary luminous panel, the secondary coded disc, the secondary slit and the secondary receiver plate; the front end of the main shaft is connected with the tail end of the secondary main shaft; the primary and secondary receiver plates are connected with the amplification circuit which is connected with the shaping and latch circuit and the analogue-to-digital conversion circuit; and the shaping and latch circuit and the analogue-to-digital conversion circuit are connected with the data processing circuit. The encoder is compact in structure, small in volume and high in reliability and extensibility; the turn counting accuracy and reliability are improved; and the resolution is improved.