Abstract: Compared with the limit equilibrium method for analyzing slope stability, the finite element method (FEM) has its own advantage when it combined with Tabu search. Because of their combination, the safety factor of slope is calculated meanwhile the most dangerous sliding surface is also determined, in which it reflects not only the advantage of FEM for its numerical analysis but also the identification of limit equilibrium, particularly the global searching ability of Tabu search is fully utilized. The example shows its feasibility, which implies the finite element method with Tabu search has the bright future of application for analyzing slope stability.