An excitation method of a vibrating wire sensor mainly comprises the following operating steps: performing single excitation for exciting coils of the vibrating wire sensor by an intermittent excitation mode to obtain a resonant frequency measured value f1 with low precision; calculating statistical characteristics of vibration signals during various periods, and inspecting the statistical characteristics; exciting the exciting coils of the vibrating wire sensor by adopting a signal with the frequency being f1 and stopping excitation after vibrating wire resonance, or performing frequency-sweep excitation at the position of a narrower bandwidth near the frequency f1; and finally processing signals from vibration pickup coils, and measuring the signal frequency to obtain a measured value f2 as an exact value of vibrating wire resonance frequency. The excitation method of the vibrating wire sensor has the advantages of fast starting of vibration, large amplitude, shortened detection time, improved working efficiency, improved excitation reliability and improved measuring precision. The excitation method of the vibrating wire sensor is applicable to observation on stress strain, deformation, seepage, liquid level, temperature and the like of the projects such as reservoir dams, bridges, foundation pits and the like.