Abstract: For low identification ratio of attendance system of coal mine caused by difficult facial contour extraction of underground personnel, a facial contour extraction method was proposed based on active contour model (Snake model) and active shape model (ASM). Firstly, the initial contour position is estimated by ASM. Secondly, the gap between marker and real contour is narrowed after multiple iterations by Snake algorithm through defining energy function of Snake model. Finally, gray value contour of orthogonal interpolation obtained by ASM are extracted, so as to get facial contour. Experimental results show that the method can extract facial contour more accurately than traditional Snake model.