Abstract: Wireless sensor networks are used in personnel localization to ensure safety in coal mine production.According to localization mechanism,the node localization algorithms of wireless sensor networks are divided as range-free ones and range-based ones which are widely used in mine because of their high localization precision and low error.Seven distance measuring methods such as RSSI were described and compared and then five localization algorithms such as Trilateration were analyzed.At last it was pointed out that personnel localization algorithms should be selected or designed in view of specific environment and application requirements of mine.