The effect of the existing Total Variation (TV) method for image denoising is not ideal, and it is not good at keeping the characteristics of image edge and texture details. A new method of image denoising based on rational-order differential was proposed in this paper. First, the advantages and disadvantages of the present image denoising methods of TV and fractional differential were discussed in detail, respectively. Then, combining the model of TV with fractional differential theory, the new method of image denoising was obtained, and a rational differential mask in eight directions was drawn. The experimental results demonstrate that compared with the existing denoising methods, Signal Noise Ratio (SNR) is increased about 2 percents, and the method retains effectively the advantages of integer and fractional differential methods, respectively. In aspects of improving significantly high frequency of image and keeping effectively the details of image texture, it is also an effective, superior image denoising method. Therefore, it is an effective method for edge detection.