The invention discloses a traffic checkpoint vehicle intelligent retrieval system and method based on an annual inspection sign. The system comprises the following modules: a human-computer interaction labeling module, a vehicle image indexing module, a vehicle image preprocessing module, an annual inspection sign detection module, an ROI feature extraction module and a visual feature matching module. The system and method can be applied to actual combat; under the extreme condition that license plate information is unavailable and under the condition that a conventional video image analysis and retrieval technology fails, a target suspected vehicle is retrieved quickly and accurately, photos of the target suspected vehicle and photo acquisition time and acquisition places are recorded, and sufficient, definite and rigorous evidences are provided for checking illegal behaviors of the target suspected vehicle. The system and method have high retrieval precision, can effectively avoid the problems of false detection and missing detection, and is very efficient.