In the viewpoint of heat transfer, heat transport potential capacity and its dissipation are defined based on the essence of heat transport phenomenon. Respectively, their physical meanings are the overall heat transfer capabilityand the dissipation rate of the heat transfer capacity. Then the least dissipation principle of heat transport potential capacity is presented to enhance the heat conduction efficiency in the heat conduction optimization. The principle is,for a conduction process with the constant integral of the thermal conductivityover the region, the optimal distribution of thermal conductivity, which corresponds to the highest heat conduction efficiency, is characterized by the least dissipation of heat transport potential capacity. Finally the principle is applied to some cases in heat conduction optimization.