The invention provides a monitoring method based on a wireless mesh network. The monitoring method comprises the steps of arranging cameras which are internally provided with wireless network modulesin an area which requires monitoring, wherein the wireless network module in each camera is used as a wireless mesh node and is connected with a backbone network, thereby forming a wireless mesh network; simultaneously using each wireless mesh node as a routing node and a terminal node; acquiring the video or the picture of the monitored area by the camera, and uploading to the backbone network through a self-equipped wireless network module, and gathering the acquired data to a central server disposed at a monitoring center by the backbone network; uploading the acquired data to display equipment by the central server, and displaying the acquired data of each area to on-duty personnel in the monitoring center through the display equipment. According to the monitoring method, the wirelessmesh network is applied to the monitoring field, thereby satisfying the monitoring requirement of various occasions, reducing wiring difficulty, preventing monitoring dead corners and improving monitoring effect.