Abstract: To maximize the recovery of coal seam gas and optimize the input-output ratio, the research of restoring production potential of shut-in wells of CBM is particularly important. According to the geological and producing characteristics of coal seam gas wells, five second-order indicators were confirmed, including geological conditions, supply capacity, sand production rate, production history and production status of surrounding wells, and their corresponding third-order indicators. To exclude the geology and regionalization influences of parameters, the evaluation index was defined to normalize the parameters, and using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to confirm the weight, and then the evaluation model of restoring production potential of shut-in wells was built. The model was applied to the shut-in wells in Surat Basin, restoring production potential order of the wells was got according to the results, and the restoring measures were made, the results showed that the restoring production was good, at the same time the cost was reduced.