The present invention discloses a method for improving recognition rate of respiratory wave, which is used for a data processing module of a respiratory rate measuring or monitoring device, specifically, said method comprises the steps of: receiving, via a data processing module, respiratory wave data which come from a measuring circuit and have been analog-to-digital converted; according to the feature that each crest or trough signal in the respiratory wave data has rising stairs and falling stairs, sequentially searching for and finding out, based on a predetermined number of stairs, the data corresponding to each crest and trough via said data processing module; and determining each crest and trough in a corresponding respiratory wave. According to the present invention, interferences may be effectively eliminated and recognition rate of respiratory waveform may be effectively improved, so that the computation of respiratory rate will be more accurate and stable, and the measuring or monitoring device will have a higher clinical practicability.