Aiming at meeting the requirement of the amass high-quality SAR images needed by template-based ground target recognition engineering practice, a novel efficient SAR signal level simulation method is proposed. The electromagnetic scattering interaction mechanisms including coherent clutter of ground, multiple reflection and edge diffraction of vehicle, coupling-scattering between vehicle and ground are accurately estimated by utilizing an efficient ray-tracing technique. High quality SAR images are finally created through the SAR imaging procedure. Simulation results show that, the new method is feasible and effective.