Surau as traditional educational institutions in minangkabau,Weast sumatera province,has significantly contributed to teh emergance of oustading figures or muslm scholars in Indonesia,some of them are those who have international reputation,such as buya hamka,Muhamad natsir,Muhammad hatta,and haji agus salim.As the most influenting scholar among indonesian muslim scholars,Sheikh ahamad khatib al-Minangkabawiy as used to be the teacher of the two founders of two major organizations in indonesia,nomely KH>Ahmad dahlan the founder of muhammadiyah anf KH.hashim asy'ariy the founder of nahdatul ulama.on teh other hand,the return of kaum muda minangkabau (the youth of minangkabau)had a strong effect n teh development and perfomance of surau as an educational institution.the function of surau has developed,not only as place for islamic observance but also a centre of learning and teaching activities.the paper will discuss about the phases of the modernitazion of surau to be madrasah.this study is a library research that used content analysis.it is found that the changing function of surau from place of worship t be madrasah (islamic school)was led by the modernist that returned after finishing studying from mecca they were celled teh youth.the changing of surau had an impact on the education system,such as aspects of the curricullum,teaching methods,teachers,students,management,and other educational compenents.modernization does not only apply to aspects of the changing system but also the name.some surau were renamed after changing into madrasah and pesantren (islamic boarding school),such as jembatan besi surau which became sumatera thawalib madrasah of padang panjang,Alin Tagak Surau Which became Alin Tagak islamic boarding school of west pasaman.