Abstract: Sea surface temperature (SST) is an important parameter for studying climate change of important significance. High resolution is required in offshore research. Using thermal infrared band of LANDSAT 8 images and near infrared water vapor product of American Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the SST retrieving process was established on the Pearl River Estuary by Jimenez-Munoz single-channel algorithm with some optimized parameters to the research feasibility. The MODIS SST product MOD28, which is the same date as the LANDSAT 8 image, is used as a control group to verify the quality of the two sets of data using in situ data. The results show that the spatial and temporal distribution of the inversion results is consistent with MOD28. It shows that SST is high in the west and low in the east in summer while it is low in the west and high in the east in winter. The annual temperature changes close to the quasi sinusoidal curve. Moreover, the inversion result is more accurate and has a good application prospect.