Concerning the problems that Teaching & Learning Based Optimization (TLBO) algorithm has slow convergence rate and low accuracy, and it is easy to be trapped into local optimum in solving high-dimensional problems, an Improved TLBO algorithm with Brain Storming Optimization (ITLBOBSO) was proposed. In this algorithm, a new “learning”operator was designed and applied to replace the origin “learning” in the TLBO. In the iteration process of the population, the “teaching” operator was executed by the current individual. Then, two individuals were selected randomly from the population, and brain storming learning was executed by the better one of the above and the current individual to improve the state of the current individual. Cauchy mutation and a random parameter associated with the iterations were introduced in the formula of this operator to improve the exploration ability in early stage and the exploitation ability for new solutions in later stage of the algorithm. In a series of simulation experimentations, compared with TLBO, the proposed algorithm has large improvements of solution accuracy, robustness and convergence speed on 11 benchmark functions. The experimental results on two constrained engineering optimization problems show that compared to TLBO algorithm, ITLBOBSO reduces the total cost by 4 percentage points, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism on overcoming the weakness of TLBO algorithm. The proposed algorithm is suitable for solving high dimensional continuous optimization problems.