By taking a pyramid configuration Control Moment Gyro( CMG) as the actuator, an advanced maneuver control algorithm was explored. In consideration of the constraint or incremental constraint of control torque for the CMG, the control law and manipulation law for the satellite attitude fast maneuver were designed based on the Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) method, and the impact of satellite attitude maneuver controller parameters on tracking performance was analyzed by different simulations. The simulation results indicate that increasing tracking performance weighting matrix and lengthening predicting time domain,the satellite attitude maneuver speed can be improved and the maneuver time can be shortened. The designed control method can achieve 40 ° attitude maneuver in the 18 s, and the corresponding pointing accuracy and stability are 0.01°and 0.04(°)/s, respectively. Simulation results were also compared with that the terminal sliding-mode control method,and it shows that the control performance of satellite attitude maneuver has been improved . The proposed control method in this paper provides a theoretical support for the in-orbit applications of agile small satellites.