Abstract: Longitudinal mode, torsional mode and flexural mode ultrasonic guided waves have different attenuation properties in anchored rock bolt. Therefore, the study of the transmission law of the three modes of ultrasonic guided waves has important guiding significance for the selection of test waves in non-destructive testing (NDT). The global matrix method and numerical simulation were used to obtain the dispersion curves and time-domain waveforms corresponding to these three modes, respectively. The characteristics of these three modes obtained by theory calculation and numerical simulation are in good agreement with each other. The results indicate that the attenuation of longitudinal mode ultrasonic guided waves ranges from 20~44 dB/m with high frequency. Attenuations for all torsional mode ultrasonic guided waves are greater than 180 dB/m. Moreover, attenuations for flexural mode ultrasonic guided waves are greater than 50 dB/m. Thus, longitudinal ultrasonic guided waves with high frequency are the most applicable modes because of low attenuation and easy excitation.