Abstract: Based on the observation data of infrared radiometer over water surface, bare soil, cropland and grassland in 2001, 2004 and 2005, as well as the downward longwave radiation and emissivity data, the authors calculated surface temperature at pixel scale using several schemes, and validated the surface temperature inversed by three algorithms with TM/ETM+ data. The results show that all the three algorithms have a consistent distribution of surface temperature in Beijing. By comparing the ground measurements, the temperature inversed by the radiative transfer equation algorithm is a little higher than that by ground measurements, the temperature inversed by mono-window algorithm is close to the observed temperature, and the result of the generalized single-channel algorithm is obviously lower. The distribution of surface temperature inversed from the mono-window algorithm indicates that the urban heat island effect in urban area is noticeable. The surface temperature in urban area is higher than the one in suburb, and the water surface temperature is the lowest. The surface temperature for different land cover types is quite different.