Objective To establish a simple, fast and economic total DNA extraction method to serve the rapid identification of model mouse genotype in large number of mice. Methods Three methods, i.e. phenol extraction, isopropyl alcohol precipitation and mouse ear boiling methods were used to extract the total DNA from ten C57-rasmodel mice. The purity and yield of DNA obtained by the three methods were compared, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was used to compare the efficacy of the three extraction methods. Results Among the three methods, phenol extraction was the best and isopropyl alcohol precipitation was the poorest in DNA yield. In terms of DNA purity, the phenol extraction was the best and the mouse ear boiling method was the poorest. All the three methods could be used to extract the total DNA from mice serving as template of PCR reaction for the mouse genotype identification. The time consumption of three methods are 12.5 hr,13 hr and 0.18 hr. Mouse ear boiling method was significantly lower than that of the other two methods (P< 0.01 ),.The obtained total DNA can be stored at conventional-20℃ for 7 days and 30 days later still can be used as a template for PCR reaction. Conclusions Among the three methods studied, the mouse ear boiling method is simple and with the lowest cost, so it is feasible for total DNA extraction in scaled genotyping experiments.