The work aims to select effective corrosion inhibitor compound system for the corrosion status of zinc in marine atmosphere to further study the effect of sodium phosphate polymer and thiourea compound corrosion inhibitor on zinc in simulated marine atmosphere and explore the corrosion inhibition mechanism of compound system for zinc. The corrosion inhibition performance of the compound system at different temperature and concentrations was evaluated by weight loss method. Besides, the strong polarization curve method, electrochemical impedance method and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to explore the corrosion inhibition mechanism. At 40 ℃, in 0.3 mol/L NaCl solution with pH=4, the sodium polyphosphate and thiourea compound corrosion inhibitor with a mass ratio of 1∶4 could effectively inhibit the corrosion of zinc and hot-dip galvanizing, and the corrosion inhibition rates respectively reached 92.19% and 91.39%. The compound inhibitor also had a good inhibition effect on the corrosion of zinc in gas phase environment. The electrochemical test showed that the inhibition rate increased with the increasing concentration at 25, 40 and 60 ℃. While at 80, the inhibition rate decreased as the concentration increased. Through the analysis on surface component, three elements of N, S and P appeared on the surface after the compound inhibitor was added. This compound system of sodium phosphate polymer and thiourea is a mixed inhibition type corrosion inhibitor. Sodium polyphosphate is able to form a protective film on the surface of zinc; and thiourea is a small-molecule organic substance that is easily adsorbed on the surface of zinc, so it can fill the gaps and bind tightly with zinc. The joint action of sodium polyphosphate and thiourea can make the zinc surface form a denser and more stable film, thereby enhancing the protection of zinc.