The minimization and balance of energy consumption are two major problems existing in the routing algorithm of wireless sensor networks（WSNs）.In this paper,first,based on the ant colony routing algorithm of WSNs,the influences of construction modes of the heuristic factor on the energy consumption minimization and ba-lance are analyzed,and a routing cost model of WSNs is proposed,which is then used to form a heuristic factor.Finally,some simulations are performed for various construction modes.The results indicate that,as compared with the existing methods,the proposed algorithm is more effective in terms of network lifetime and energy consumption balance,and that the heuristic factor constructed based on routing cost is more reasonable.