3217 fully mechanized working face of Shanxi Jingxin Coal Industry was taken as study object, the top coal release under different coal release process conditions was studied with theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. The results showed that the top coal release rate was the highest in this geology and coal seam deposit, and the top coal release rate was 87.7% and the gangue rate 9.4% under the two mining and one releasing step conditions. From the perspective of coal releasing method, the highest top coal release rate was 88.2% and gangue rate 4.5% in multi-round sequential coal releasing, while the lowest top coal release rate 82.9% and gangue rate 8.9% in single-round sequential coal releasing; the optimization of coal releasing process suggested using two mining and one releasing step, and in the selection of coal releasing method, when the working face can realize automatic coal releasing, the highest top coal release rate was 87.7% and gangue rate 9.4%. In the selection of coal releasing method, when the working face can realize automatic coal releasing, multi-round sequential coal releasing method should be adopted, and when the working face with manual coal releasing, single-round interval coal releasing should be adopted.