Abstract: In order to study the effect of various moisture content on the spontaneous combustion characteristics of coal, the temperature programming experiment and thermogravimetric characteristics experiment were conducted for coal samples with moisture content of 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10%. The variation of gas production, mass loss, temperature rise and spontaneous combustion tendency of coal samples with different moisture content were analyzed comprehensively. It points out the influence of the moisture content on coal spontaneous combustion process. The results show that a certain amount of moisture enables the coal to be more easily oxidized at lower temperature, accelerating the process of coal-oxygen complex reaction. At the same time, the moisture evaporation process absorbs heat, and increases internal pressure, oxygen adsorption blocked, as the temperature rises, oxygen is constantly depleted, more active groups cannot be fully reacted in time, thus delaying the further vigorous oxidation of coal molecules, hindering the process of complex reaction of coal and oxygen. Coal spontaneous combustion tendency continues to decline with the increase of moisture content, when the moisture content is greater than 8%, the declining trend is accelerated.