In this paper, an algorithm named non-truncated wavelet finite element for bioluminescence tomography (BLT) is proposed. Using linear combination of non-truncated wavelet functions across the elements to approximate the unknown function, this algorithm is used in BLT forward problem in phantoms of cylinder and sphere successfully. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations show that the computation accuracy by this algorithm is almost as good as that of finite element method (FEM), while the number of elements and computational complexity reduce greatly compared with FEM.