The present invention belongs to the field of current varying technology. The multiple-level inverter controlling method based on spatial vector modulation includes analyzing the reference voltage vector for controlling the multiple-level inverter to obtain offset voltage vecotr and two-level voltage vector; assuming the two-level voltage vector as the reference voltage vector of the two-level inverter to obtain 3 two-level switching vectors; adding the 3 two-level switching vectors with said offset voltage vector to obtain 3 multi-level switching vectors; and selecting 4 multi-level switching states and their action times from the several switching states corresponding to the said 3 multi-level switching vectors based on the zero-sequence component of the reference voltage. The said method has clear physical concepts, simple design and less computing time, and may be realized easily in a microprocessor and adaptable to various multiple-level inverter of different level number.