The present disclosure provides a dual mode detection method, controller and system, which relates to the technical field of radiation detection. The dual mode detection method of the present disclosure includes: determining a ratio of neutron to X-ray differential cross sections of an inspected object, according to X-ray object detection data, X-ray object-free detection data, neutron object detection data, and neutron object-free detection data; determining a substance type of the inspected object according to a correspondence between the ratio of neutron to X-ray differential cross sections of the inspected object and the substance type.