In this letter a new skeletonization algorithm is proposed. It combines techniques of fast construction of Euclidean Distance Maps(EDMs), ridge extraction, Hit-or-Miss Transformation(HMT) of structuring elements and the set operators. It first produces the EDM image with no more than 4 passes through an image of any kinds, and then the ridge image is extracted by applying a turn-on scheme and performing a rain-fall elimination to accelerate the processing. The one-pixel wide skeleton is finally acquired by carrying out the HMTs of two structure elements and the SUBTRACT and OR operations. Experimental results obtained by practical applications are also presented.