Abstract: In dense granular flows, a non-local rheology theory was proposed by Pouliquen et al. based on the idea of a self-activated process, in which a rearrangement at one position will be trigged by stress fluctuation due to rearrangements elsewhere in the material. Taking into account the probability density distribution of stress fluctuation amplitude in granular materials and the coupling e ect between shear rate and volume fraction in iterative calculation, a modified non-local rheological model was proposed in order to describe the dense granular flow more accurately. Due that dense granular flows down inclines preserve this complexity but remain simple enough for detailed analysis, this modified model was applied to predict the rheological characteristics of flows down a rough inclined plane. Compared to the previous non-local rheological model, the predicted results based on the present modified model, including the critical thickness, depth-averaged velocity and shear rate profile, are quantitatively better consistent with the existing experimental and simulating results.