Abstract: Motivated by the current interest in the mechanism of the deflagration to detonation transition(DDT), research on DDT of ethyl ether-air mixture and ethyl ether-aluminum-air was implemented by the experimental system with a large-scale tube of 32.4 m in length and 0.199 m of inner diameter. The processes of DDT in the clouds of the mixtures were analyzed and the mixtures with different concentrations were compared. The results indicate that a self-sustained detonation could be formed in the ethyl ether-air mixture with the ethyl ether concentration of 295 g/m³, while in the ethyl ether-aluminum-air mixture, the ethyl ether and aluminum concentrations would be 314 g/m³ and 230 g/m³, respectively.