In recent years, the thin-layer wicking technique proposed by Van Oss was considered useful to measure the contact angle and the surface energy of powders.In this paper, the effect of the thickness of powders thin-layer and the amount of penetrating liquids on contact angle of cement powders was discussed.1-Bromonaphthalene,formamide and deionized water were selected as penetrating liquids.Surface energy was calculated by a equation when contact angles were obtained.The relationship between surface energy and those factors were concluded which could provide guidance for the application of this method.