The 3-dimensional incompressible Rayleigh-Taylor instability is numerically studied through the large-eddy-simulation (LES) approach based on the passive scalar transport model. Both the instantaneous velocity and the passive scalar fields excited by sinusoidal perturbation and random perturbation are simulated. A full treatment of the whole evolution process of the instability is addressed. To verify the reliability of the LES code, the averaged turbulent energy as well as the flux of passive scalar are calculated at both the resolved scale and the subgrid scale. Our results show good agreement with the experimental and other numerical work. The LES method has proved to be an effective approach to the Rayleigh-Taylor instability.