In the temperature distribution reconstruction in participating medium, scattering is an important factor to affect the accuracy of the reconstruction. Due to the simple formulation of reconstruction modeling and process, the scattering is sometimes neglected in temperature reconstruction in participating medium of furnace. This simplication of scattering may introduce some errors into reconstructions. Detailed analysis of treatment of scattering on the influence of temperature distribution reconstruction accuracy is presented. The results show that in order to get reasonable reconstruction results, when the optical thickness is about larger than 1.1 for the scattering albedo 0.5, the scattering cannot be neglected. When the optical thickness was 6.0, the scattering cannot be neglected for the scattering albedo larger than about 0.21. In the large pulverized coal-fired furnace, the scattering should not be neglected in most space of the furnace, and if the scattering must be neglected for simplicity, the scattering effect should be taken into the absorption effect which can be considered as a compromising method. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.