Abstract: To enhance the research and application of maize salt tolerance, we use hydroponics with NaCl stress simulating salt condition in field. Based on appropriate NaCl stress concentrations, and taking the salt tolerance coefficients as indexes, we identified the salt tolerance of 242 maize inbred lines at seedling stage through principal component analysis, membership function analysis and cluster analysis. The results showed that, the germination rate, root dry weight, seedlings’dry weight, root fresh weight, root length, and seedlings’ fresh weight could be used as indicators for screening and identifying salt- tolerant maize inbred lines at seedling stage. With clustering analysis, 242 maize inbred lines at seedling stage were classified into five groups: 12 were high salt-tolerance, like B hong-2; 42 were medium salt-tolerance, like NC320; 58 were general salt-tolerance, like 50K-4-1; 77 were salt-sensitive, like H070480; and 53 were highly salt-sensitive, like Gan 1.