Disclosed is an image identification method based on difference feature description. The method includes the steps that firstly, the gray values of image pixel points are converted into the subordinate degree through a selected subordinating degree function; on the basis of defining a difference value concept, each set of adjacent pixel points, with the same difference value, of an image serves as an area, and feature vectors of the area are defined; each area is represented through a feature vector point at the mass center; the mass centers of the adjacent areas are connected through a triangle, the inner corners of the triangle serve as the relation angle of the adjacent areas, and features of a target image are extracted; finally, the features of an image to be identified are extracted, target feature matching is carried out on the processed image, and then whether the image contains the target image or not is determined. The difference values and direction of the image area feature points are combined, the novel image identification method is provided, and the image identification method is simple, convenient to implement, easy to understand, complete in feature and wide in application range, and has the better combination property compared with a traditional method.