The invention relates to a characteristic point three-dimensional reconstruction method based on trifocal tensor, which includes the following steps: coding points, marking points and a ruler are arranged on the surface of the measured object; a digital camera is used to take photos of the measured object in multiple angles, and the photos are inputted to a computer for image processing to obtain the image coordinates (xd, x'd and x''d); all images are rearranged for normalization treatment according to the image coordinates (xd, x'd and x''d); the trifocal tensor of each group of images is respectively calculated to determine the three-dimensional point coordinates of the coding points and the marking points; each group of three-dimensional point coordinates is processed to obtain the three-dimensional coordinates (x, y and z) of each point in the unified coordinate system; the specific value of the length and the actual length is calculated through the ruler to obtain new three-dimensional point coordinates (x', y' and z') in metric space; the new three-dimensional point coordinates (x', y' and z') receive focusing control to obtain integrally optimized three-dimensional point coordinates. The three-dimensional reconstruction method in the invention has high calculation accuracy, simple use, convenient operation, needs only a portable digital camera, a common laptop, a group of coding points and marking points, and a ruler.