The heuristic method in distribution network reconstruction is difficult to find the optimal solution. The intelligent optimization algorithm has low search efficiency, requires a lot of machine time, and is easy to fall into local optimum. A PSO algorithm based on direction matrix is proposed and applied to the reconstruction of distribution network. Firstly, the basic ring matrix is improved into an ordered ring network matrix. Then according to the lowest voltage node in each ring network, combined with the ordered ring network matrix to generate the direction matrix. Finally, the direction matrix is used to guide the particle motion speed in the particle swarm algorithm. The motion of the particles to the lowest voltage node ensures global convergence. The good local search ability of the particle swarm algorithm is used to quickly find the global optimal solution. Finally, the effectiveness of the algorithm is verified by IEEE 33-node and Taipower84power distribution system.