In an attempt to achieve the clean and efficient utilization of lignite, drying pre-treatment was performed in this study before lignite combustion. The combustion reactivity and NO emission characteristics of the partially dried lignite samples in the char combustion stage were investigated by means of TG and isothermal combustion tests, and the reactivity could be summarized as the following order: L1>L0.5>raw>L3>LT>L5 (chars obtained from the devolatilization of the raw and partially dried coals at 378 K for 0.5, 1, 3, 5, and 120 minutes) and the NO conversion ratio of L1 was the lowest. When the moisture content in the coal particles was relatively high (19.68%-35.84%), the drying treatment could increase the combustion reactivity and inhibit NO emission in the char combustion stage; When the moisture content was within a relatively low range (0.17%-19.68%), the moisture removal had negative effects on the reactivity and NO emission in the char combustion stage. The surface behaviour and microstructure of the raw coal char and chars derived from the partially dried coals were clarified by temperature programmed desorption/reduction (TPD/TPR) and Raman spectroscopy. The results illustrated that L1 derived from L(c)1 (19.68%) was the most reactive sample with the largest amount of C(O) on the particle surface. There were also more reactive aromatic structures in L1 than other samples. Compared with direct combustion or excessive drying treatment, lignite should be dried to a certain degree (19.68%) for optimized lignite combustion.