The salt tolerances of 157 maize inbred lines were evaluated during the seedling stage by means of potted identification, and the population structure of the studied inbred lines was analyzed using 115 SSR markers. The results showed that ten maize inbred lines, including T5V, N1026, Nongda 1145, 4S and so on, were highly salt-tolerant maize germplasms; the plant height in 10 days after treatment (10DPH), shoot fresh weight (SFW), root fresh weight (RFW), shoot dry weight (SDW), root dry weight (RDW) and survival rate (SR) could be used as key indicators for identification of salt tolerance in the maize seedling stage. Evaluation of population structure indicated that 157 inbred lines could be classified into six groups, which were generally consistent with their known pedigrees. The inbred lines derived from Tongxi 5 ( group Ⅰ) , the waxy germplasms from Thailand (group Ⅲ) and those from LRC, Huangzaosi and so on, were highly tolerant to salt, which were important germpalsms in maize breeding for salt tolerance. These screened salt-tolerant maize germplasms would provide excellent genetic resources for the studies of genetic mechanisms in maize, maize improvement and molecular breeding for salt tolerance in the future.