The splits window algorithm is used to retrieve the snow surface temperature from MODIS 1B data through redeveloping the ENVI software. The details of image processing and programming are given. Taking the northern Xinjiang as an example， the approach is used to calculate the snow surface temperature， and the retrieved results are compared with the observed snow temperatures from automatical meteorological stations. The comparison indicates that the retrieved snow surface temperature distribution is consistent with observed one， and the average error is 1.73 ℃， which is acceptable， can basically reflect the distribution of snow surface temperature over the northern Xinjiang. With the method， the batch processing of remote sensing data can be realized， so to build a long time sequence rapidly and accurately.