Aim To investigate the relationship between stenosis degree of criminal artery and progression in acute ischemic minor stroke. Methods A total of 104 patients with acute ischemic minor stroke, admitted between June 2013 and September 2014,were enrolled. They were divided into progression group (n＝46) and no progression group (n＝58). The ABCD2 scores were recorded and the stenosis degree of criminal artery was evaluated by DSA during the early stage. The clinical data including ABCD2 score and the stenosis degree of criminal artery were analyzed by Logistic regression, Spearman correlation and ROC curve. Results The ABCD2 score, the stenosis degree of criminal artery, degree of artery involvement, age and LDL in progression group were significantly higher than those in no progression group by univariate binary Logistic regression. The stenosis degree of criminal artery (r＝0.4296, P＝0.000) and the ABCD2 score (r＝0.6890, P＝0.000) were significantly correlated with progression of minor stroke. The stenosis degree of criminal artery (OR＝5.8,5% CI was 1.124~ 24.608, P＝0.035) and the ABCD2 score (OR＝8.0,5%CI was 3.093~20.748, P＝0.000) were the independent risk factors of the progression of minor stroke by multivariate binary Logistic regression. The area under the curve (AUC) of stenosis degree of criminal artery was 0.4,5%CI was 0.64324~0.82153, and AUC of ABCD2 score was 0.9,5%CI was 0.83128~0.94046. Conclusion Stenosis degree of criminal artery is the independent risk factor of the progression of minor stroke as the same as ABCD2 score. More attentions are needed in treatment of minor stroke.