In order to research the relationship between the tip clearance and leakage flow of centrifugal compressor, a high speed centrifugal compressor was investigated by using CFD. A numerical study on the effect of four different rotor tip clearance sizes of centrifugal compressor, which were 0.5times, 1 times, 1.5times and 2.0times of the design tip clearance, was carried out. Efficiency and pressure ratio curves were obtained under different mass flow. The reasons of the clearance vortex and the factors of vortex size were analyzed. The result indicated that with the increase of tip clearance size, the performance of the compressor changed obviously, the performance parameters such as efficiency and pressure ratio tended to decrease obviously. While, the leakage flow does not always lead to leak vortex. The strength of the vortex increased with the tip clearance. The size of leak vortex was affected by the pressure difference between the suction side and the pressure side of blade tip.