One of the main problems in the development of laser cutting system was the air moves planning containing multi-layered contour lines. In order to meet the requirements of laser cutting process from inside to outside, heuristic sorting and grid sorting algorithms were proposed to achieve optimal sorting. Firstly, the position relationship of multiple nested contours was judged by ray method. Secondly, the best fitness first heuristic sorting algorithm was used. The empty distance and contour area were used as evaluation indexes, and the weight was assigned respectively to get the overall fitness. The contour with high fitness was selected as the next cutting figure. Finally, in order to meet different application scenarios, another grid sorting method was proposed. According to the density of contour control points, the grid was divided based on hierarchical clustering algorithm, and the grid was traversed according to the regular route to get the contour lines in each grid in turn. Simulation and experimental results showed that, compared with the intelligent optimization sorting algorithm, heuristic sorting and grid sorting could not only effectively shorten the air moves, but also greatly reduce the calculation time, and significantly improve the efficiency and quality of laser cutting.