This paper is in order to improve the efficiency of image segmentation and reduce the amount of user interaction, the mean shift algorithm is proposed with a combination of segmentation methods applied to the vertebra images. The image was pre-processed with the mean shift method and the region graph was obtained instead of pixel graph, which could reduce dozen times edge numbers in the graph. Furthermore, the edge-preserving property of mean shift algorithm was used. The experimental results show that the proposed method possesses nice properties of the mean shift and graph algorithm, so it is efficient and accurate, and it also reduces user interaction.