<p>To realize an efficient path planning for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) under complex control constraints in complex environment, a global–local hierarchical path planning method is proposed in this paper. This method integrates both ant colony algorithm and dynamic windows approach. First, the control constraints based on the collision avoidance rules according to the task characteristics of USVs are deduced. Then, four improvement strategies, such as heuristic function, recombination mechanism, updating rule and post-processing of ant colony system are constructed based on optimization goal of the lowest energy consumption. Finally, the risk assessment and objective function of dynamic windows approach based on the motion characteristics of USVs are designed, and the algorithm simulation is conducted in both static and dynamic obstacle environment. The results show that the algorithm guarantees the navigation task of unmanned surface vehicles being completed with less energy consumption in various marine environment.</p>