Simulating of the direct absorption TDLAS spectrum can help to comprehend the process of the absorbing and understand the influence on the absorption signal with each physical parameter. Firstly, the basic theory and algorithm of direct absorption TDLAS is studied and analyzed thoroughly, through giving the expressions and calculating steps of parameters based on Lambert-Beer’s law, such as line intensity, absorption cross sections, concentration, line shape and gas total partition functions. The process of direct absorption TDLAS is simulated using MATLAB programs based on HITRAN spectra database, with which the absorptions under a certain temperature, pressure, concentration and other conditions were calculated. Water vapor is selected as the target gas, the absorptions of which under every line shapes were simulated. The results were compared with that of the commercial simulation software, Hitran-PC, which showed that, the deviation under Lorentz line shape is less than 0.5%, and that under Gauss line shape is less than 2.5%, while under Voigt line shape it is less than 1%. It verified that the algorithm and results of this work are correct and accurate. The absorption of H2O in ν2+ν3 band under different pressure and temperature is also simulated. In low pressure range, the Doppler broadening dominant, so the line width changes little with varied pressure, while the line peak increases with rising pressure. In high pressure range, the collision broadening dominant, so the line width changes wider with increasing pressure, while the line peak approaches to a constant value with rising pressure. And finally, the temperature correction curve in atmosphere detection is also given. The results of this work offer the reference and instruction for the application of TDLAS direct absorption.