The quality factors of cameras have a direct impact on the performance of video surveillance systems. It has attracted many research interests that how to quantitatively evaluate their performances rationally and effectively. There are many interdependent and interactional parameters that are employed to describe the demonstration of cameras, and hence, it is a complex problem. The main parameters affectting performances of video cameras including technology, function, subjective assessment and economy parameters are analyzed. The comprehensive evaluation of the camera imaging performance is attempted to decompose into three levels based on analytic hierarchy process, and then an evaluation mode is established. The influence of various factors for the mode is discussed and their weight values are calculated. The comprehensive evaluation results of several 1080P digital dome cameras applied to security protection have been obtained. It is expected to provide a reference for construction and running of video surveillance systems.