This paper presents a mixed-integer linear formulation for the thermal unit commitment problem considering the start-up and shut-down power trajectories. A realistic and accurate modeling of the unit’s operating phase is given, which includes the phases of start-up, dispatchable and shut-down. The start-up type is decided by the unit’s prior off-line time. The start-up costs and power trajectories depend on the type of start-up. A new set of binary variables is introduced to represent the dispatchable status, which can decrease the binary variables and constraints significantly. Finally, a test case study is analyzed to verify the correctness and show the computational performance of the proposed formulation.