We propose a novel multi-source image fusion algorithm based on the improved guided image filtering and dual-channel spiking cortical model (DCSCM),in order to solve the problems that targets are not prominent, background information is easy to lose and margin information is not adequately retained. Firstly, we obtain the low frequency and high frequency sub-bands by using the nonsubsampled shearlet transform (NSST) to the two original images. Then we use the improved guided image filtering algorithm and the DCSCM model to fuse the low frequency and high frequency components respectively. Finally, we perform the inverse NSST transform on the fused high and low frequency components to obtain the final fused image. Experimental results show that the fused images of the proposed algorithm have prominent targets and rich background information. The proposed algorithm has advantages in terms of image clarity, contrast, and information entropy, compared with several other methods.