The multispectral remote sensing technology has been a primary means in the research of biomass monitoring, climate change, disaster prediction and etc. The spectral sensitivity is essential in the quantitative analysis of remote sensing data. When the sensor is running in the space, it will be influenced by cosmic radiation,severe change of temperature, chemical molecular contamination, cosmic dust and etc. As a result,the spectral sensitivity will degrade by time, which has great implication on the accuracy and consistency of the physical measurements. This paper presents a characterization method of the degradation based on man-made spectral targets. Firstly, a degradation model is established in the paper. Then, combined with equivalent reflectance of spectral targets measured and inverted from image, the degradation characterization can be achieved. The simulation and on orbit experiment results showed that, using the proposed method, the change of center wavelength and band width can be monotored. The method proposed in the paper has great significance for improving the accuracy of long time series remote sensing data product and comprehensive utilization level of multi sensor data products.