This study mainly analyzed the improved three-frame difference algorithm for the identification of active targets in the intelligent substation. The improved three-frame difference algorithm introduced the Gaussian mixture background algorithm on the basis of the traditional three-frame difference method. The Gaussian mixture background algorithm, traditional three-frame difference method, and improved three-frame difference method were tested in the actual substation. The results showed that the improved difference method eliminated the non-target background more thoroughly when recognizing the moving target in the image; in the tested video, the improved algorithm had the highest precision and recall ratios for the active target in the video. To sum up, the improved three-frame difference method can more accurately and effectively identify the active targets in the monitoring video, so as to provide an effective support for the unmanned monitoring of intelligent substation.