The invention discloses an automatic cutting control system and an automatic cutting control method for a coal cutter. The control system comprises a controller, a data storage device, a working condition detection apparatus for the coal cutter and a control host. The working condition detection apparatus for the coal cutter comprises a walking displacement detection unit, an angle detection unit one for detecting the swing angle of a right rocker arm, an angle detection unit two for detecting the inclination angle of a working face, an angle detection unit three for detecting the swing angle of a left rocker arm, and an angle detection unit four for detecting the upward or downward angle of the coal cutter. A left height adjustment oil cylinder and a right height adjustment oil cylinder are both controlled by the controller. The control method comprises the steps of: 1) learning and memorizing the cutting trace of the currently working coal seam; 2) accomplishing the automatic coal cutting according to the memorized trace, and adjusting the memorized trace in real time; 3) repeating step 2) until all the exploration processes of the currently working coal seal is finished. The system of the invention is advantageous by a simple circuit, a reasonable design, a convenient control method, and good application effect, and can realize the automatic cutting control of the coal cutter.