The invention relates to a graphical comparing method for SCD (substation configuration description) files of an intelligent substation. According to the graphical comparing method, a graphical model comparison mode is adopted, and graphs are adopted to indicate comparison results. The graphical comparing method specifically includes the steps of importing two to-be-compared SCD files for analysis so as to generate a new graphical comparison SCD file which is divided into an IED (Intelligent electronic device) layer, an associated graph layer, a virtual terminal graph layer and a virtual terminal surface layer; comparing the original SCD file with the new SCD file according to a data model and a communication service model of the IEC (international electro technical commission) 61850 standard, and marking the comparison results in different layers of the SCD file in graphs. Compared with a frequently-used SCD file text comparison method, the graphical comparing method for the SCD files has the advantages of simple operation, clear comparison results, high comparing efficiency, high visualization degree and the like, and a user can get free of dependence on XML (extensive markup language) grammatical rules and IEC61850 model knowledge.