Since the inception of reform and opening up，rural petitions have kept increasing，especially in issues related to rural land rights，land grabbing and demolition，wages of migrant rural workers，and medical disputes，which in recent years have aggravated the phenomenon of resorting to petition instead of law in rural areas. As the fourth plenary session of the 18th Party Congress has put forward the rule of law for the nation，it has therefore become an inevitable dilemma for current reform of rural petition system to handle rural petitions within the framework of rule of law. Based on investigations of rural petition practices in Anhui Province and explorations of reform of petition system throughout China，as well as the combination of typical cases，sample investigation and empirical analysis，the article rationally analyzes the intrinsic causes of the phenomenon of resorting to petition instead of law in Anhui rural areas，and from six different perspectives such as top design，grassroots democratic consultation，evaluation mechanism and innovation methods，discusses how to strengthen reform of rural petition system and mechanism and return to the channel of rule of law so as to enable the people to petition according to law.