Abstract: Aiming at the surrounding rock control problem of roof cutting and retaining roadway in 10605 working face of Wangjiazhai Coal Mine in Nayong County, the mechanical model of surrounding rock of roof cutting and retaining roadway is constructed. The roof cutting parameters such as roof cutting strength, roof cutting height and roof cutting angle, and the key parameters of retaining roadway such as the length of reinforcing anchor cable and the spacing of reinforcing anchor cable are studied by numerical simulation. The results show that the greater the roof cutting strength, the smaller the roof subsidence; the larger the roof cutting height and the roof cutting angle, the roof subsidence is in the trend of decreasing first and then increasing; the length of the reinforcing anchor cable increases, and the convergence range between the roof and floor of the roadway decreases; the row spacing between reinforcing anchor cables increases, and the supporting effect gradually weakens. The practice results show that when the height of roof cutting is 15 m, the angle of roof cutting is 15°, the strength of roof cutting is in the middle, the length of reinforcing anchor cable is 15 m, and the row spacing between reinforcing anchor cables is 1 m, with the advancement of the working face, the average height of the retaining roadway is 2.39 m, and the average width is 3.43 m, which meets the requirements of the next working face as the return air roadway.