according to adaptive difference, fixed threshold, background noise suppression problem in traditional edge detection algorithms, in order to obtain more ideal result of image edge detection, a new image edge detection algorithm based on improved cuckoo search algorithm is proposed in this paper. The gradient matrix of grayscale is obtained by first-order derivative, and the maximum of image gradient is obtained by using cuckoo search algorithm. The image edge is achieved rapidly and accurately. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can detect the image edge accurately and quickly, and better than other traditional edge detection algorithm.