Optical readout method plays a critical role in bimaterial cantilever array sensing system. The common optical readout methods are based on spectral plane filtering. In the paper an all-optical background subtraction readout approach inspired by total reflection and optical lever principle is presented for the bimaterial cantilever array sensing. Comparing with the spectral plane filtering methods the proposed approach eliminates digital subtraction operation by using optical total reflection instead of digital subtraction and avoids spectral filtering operation. An all-optical background subtraction directly-view infrared sensing system was developed to evaluate the approach. The infrared target can be directly acquired by the visible light CCD. The experimental results and analysis show its unique advantages.