Based on the principle of Mahalanobis distance discriminant analysis (DDA) theory, a stability classification model for mine-lane surrounding rock was established, including six indexes of discriminant factors that reflect the engineering quality of surrounding rock: lane depth below surface, span of lane, ratio of directly top layer thickness to coal thickness, uniaxial comprehensive strength of surrounding rock, development degree coefficient of surrounding rock joint and range of broken surrounding rock zone. A DDA model was obtained through training 15 practical measuring samples. The re-substitution method was introduced to verify the stability of DDA model and the ratio of mis-discrimination is zero. The DDA model was used to discriminate3 new samples and the results are identical with actual rock kind. Compared with the artificial neural network method and support vector mechanic method, the results show that this model has high prediction accuracy and can be used in practical engineering.