In this paper, the design and implementation of a fetal electrocardiogram (ECG) extraction system based on surface electrode placing on maternal abdominal region is introduced. The system consists of an acquisition circuit and ECG analysis software. The hardware module includes eight channels ECG amplifiers (extensible), analog filter and A/D circuit. The software module contains multi-channel data acquisition and access control, digital filter, Independent Component Analysis (ICA) algorithm and real-time display of I/O waveform, etc. The clinical data and actual simulation data prove that this system can effectively extract fetal ECG from maternal ECG, and both the modules are able to satisfy the design requirements. The experiments demonstrate that the fetal ECG system introduced in this paper has high clinical value; further, it testifies the feasibility of ICA algorithms applied to fetal ECG extraction. In the end, it explains the advantages of this system over the relevant systems, and proposse updating direction and application prospects of the system.