A basic model of target detection and tracking of photoelectric image has been analyzed to solve the problems existed in target detection and tracking of photoelectric image in complex background. The distance information is divided into three categories including scalar distance information, vector distance information and array distance information according to spatial dimensions and the amount of contained information. The distance information processing method oriented target detection and tracking in optical information has been researched systematically. The relationship between the target scale in photoelectric image and the scalar distance information is obtained. The image matching method using the high-level feature matching model in photoelectric image is expanded from 2D to 3D space. The applications of array distance information in target detection and recognition are summarized. This work can provide a theoretical basis for target scale analysis, image matching and identification of target species in photoelectric images.