Radial collector wells are widely used as the municipal ground water production structure, as well as water intake facilities to improve saline-alkali land due to their characteristics of high water yield per single well, stable water quality and large control area. Investigation of the construction methods of traditional radial collector wells has found some problem, such as low construction safety, low drilling efficiency and poor drilling quality in the construction process of traditional collection shafts and radial laterals. This paper puts forward a solution for drilling of the radial collector well: sinking the collection shaft by auger drilling, and constructing the radial laterals by horizontal directional drilling. Through field trials, it is found that this solution can effectively tackle the problems existing in the traditional method, and it will find wider use with further improvement.