The invention discloses a picture browsing method and a picture browsing device. The method comprises the following steps: when pictures are displayed in a thumbnail list mode, detecting whether a picture rolling play command exists or not; and when detecting the picture rolling play command, performing rolling play on the pictures by taking a column/row as a unit. When too much pictures are stored in a mobile phone of a user, the user can rapidly browse the pictures and rapidly find needed pictures without performing a complex operation, the interestingness is increased for the user, and meanwhile the use experience of the user is improved.