Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical effect of breast-conserving surgery and modified radical mastectomy in the treatment of early breast cancer. Methods The clinical data of 88 patients with early breast cancer from January, 2012 to June, 2016 in our hospital were analyzed retrospectively. Forty-four patients in the breast-conserving group received the breast-conserving surgery, while 44 patients in the modified radical group received the modified radical mastectomy. The operative time, intraoperative blood loss, hospitalization time, postoperative period cosmetic effect, recurrence rate, metastasis rate and survival rate were compared between the two groups in order to assess the efficacy of two surgical methods. Results ①The operation time and hospitalization time of the patients in the breast-conserving group were significantly shorter than those in the modified radical group, and the intraoperative blood loss was significantly less than that of the modified radical group. The difference between the two groups in the operation time, intraoperative blood loss and hospitalization time was statistically significant. ②At the end of follow-up, 1 case of recurrence occurred in the breast-conserving group, 1 case of metastasis, no death occurred. There were 2 cases of metastasis and 1 case of death in the modified radical group, and no local recurrence. There was no significant difference in recurrence rate, metastasis rate and survival rate between the two groups. ③ After the decision, 39 cases in the breast conserving group were excellent, 3 cases were general, 2 cases were poor. The excellent rate of breast-conserving patients was 88.6%. The cosmetic effect in the modified radical group was judged as poor because of the implementation of the whole mastectomy surgery, and the postoperative cosmetic effect of breast-conserving group was significantly better than that in the modified radical group, the difference was statistically significant. Conclusion In the treatment of early breast cancer, breast-conserving surgery is with the advantage of short operation time, less intraoperative bleeding, short hospital stay, good cosmetic effect and rapid postoperative recovery when compared with the modified radical surgery. There is no significant difference in the local recurrence rate, distant metastasis rate and survival rate between the two groups, which is worthy of clinical promotion.