Abstract: It taking the problem of return airway driving along direction face to working face，under 5104 return air roadway driving before 5102 working face unfinished mining of E coal mine in Xinjiang district，the rational scope of coal pillar width was calculated by elastic core theory，detailed model was built by software FLAC^3D，the stress distribution and displacement of different pillar width were compared under driving along face to working face with cycle excavation.The results showed that the stress shape of pillar width（8～20m）was double humps shape，but the stress shape was like single hump when pillar width were 4m and 6m，respectively.The deformation speed of roof to floor and two sides of return air entry were the largest，when coal pillar width belong scope 4m to 8m，but the speed ratio was smooth when coal pillar width belong scope 8m to 20m.On the basis of time effect of viscoelasto-plastic rheological of pillar，then the reasonable coal pillar width was confirmed as 12m，so the surrounding rock supporting way was put forward，which include high resistance and yield，strengthen bottom corner，reinforcement emphasis and so on，the practical test showed that surrounding rock deformation could be controlled effectively，mining and driving were assured.