The invention discloses an image registration method based on images characteristics and mutual information. The image registration method based on images characteristics and mutual information is mainly used for improving the accuracy of an existing registration method based on the mutual information. The image registration method comprises the implementation steps of (1) inputting two images, one of which is a reference image r while the other one is a floating image f, (2) extracting the characteristic point set P1 and P2 of the two images by use of an SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) method, respectively, and calculating the mutual information NMI1 between the P1 and the P2, (3) extracting the contour characteristics of the two images, respectively, and calculating the mutual information NMI2 between the two contour characteristics, (4) taking the weighted sum of NMI1 and NMI2 as a target function, optimizing the target function by use of a Powell algorithm, and when the weighed sum of the mutual information NMI1 and NMI2 is maximum, obtaining a registration parameter, and (5) displaying the image after registration. The image registration method based on images characteristics and mutual information has the advantages of high registration result accuracy and good robustness, and can be applied to the technical fields of image fusion, change detection and the like.