Abstract: The topology of the particle swarm algorithm(PSO)can directly affect the performance of the algorithm, the neighborhood structure dynamic changes of particles to reach for the purpose of changing particles topology. In order to overcome the problem of the premature and low precision of the standard PSO, we present a tree topological structure using optimal leaf node to improve velocity update formula, while these particles explore the search space more broadly. A PSO algorithm using the tree topology able to solve the problem of space searching accuracy effectively, and can make particles study to local optima, the global optima and the optima of the leaf node used to avoid premature. Through several classic benchmark test function simulation, compares the efficiency of several different algorithms, the experimental results suggest that PSO algorithms using the tree topology are able to provide superior and more consistent performance over some existing PSO algorithms. The improved algorithm is applied to image matching, and the matching speed and accuracy are improved.