An intelligent video retrieval system and method based on target characteristic and alarm behavior relate to an intelligent video retrieval system and method. The system comprises a trajectory tracking module, a feature extraction module, a feature storage module, a search engine module and a retrieval terminal, wherein the trajectory tracking module extracts the motion trajectory and alarm behavior of a target input in the video; the feature extraction module extracts the features of the input image such as color, texture, shape and category; the feature storage module stores the motion trajectory, the alarm behavior, the target characteristic and the related information of the video in a feature database; the search engine module analyzes the retrieval conditions input by a user, performs video retrieval based on characteristic and behavior in the database and returns the video clip satisfying the conditions; and the retrieval terminal, namely client software receives the retrieval conditions input by the user and displays the retrieval result after retrieval. Compared with the prior art, by using the retrieval system, the user can customize retrieval conditions more accurately, video retrieval based on target characteristic and alarm behavior can be performed; and the retrieval result of the features generated by real-time analysis can be fast obtained.