Targeting at the disqualified products produced during the tobacco packaging process, the aim of this study was to find and remove those disqualified products in time using a vision detection system, in order to improve the tobacco packaging quality. The design scheme of the vision detection system for tobacco packaging machine was given, and the de? tection process and principle of the vision detection system were analyzed. Finally, real test of the machine was conducted. The effective removal rate of unqualified cigarette packets was increased by about 2.5% after adoption of the vision detec? tion system. By equipping the tobacco packaging machine with the vision detection system, and using the image similarity detection principle and edge detection principle, the removal rate of unqualified cigarette packets was effectively improved, which reduced the consumption of packaging material and relieve the operation load of the downstream machine.