Abstract: Objective To explore the efficacy observation and mechanism of the ventilation, nourishing lung and strengthening spleen method (Shufeng Runfei Jianpi Decoction) in elderly patients with pulmonary infection. Methods A total of 86 elderly patients with pulmonary infection who were treated in our hospital from May 2016 to March 2018 were selected and randomly divided into two groups according to the number table method. The control group was treated with conventional drug therapy, on the basis of which the research group was treated with ventilation, nourishing lung and strengthening spleen. The treatment effect, inflammatory response degree improvement, clinical symptoms improvement and the incidence of adverse reactions were analyzed. Results The effective rate of the study group was 88.4%, and that of the control group was 69.8%. The curative effect of the study group was better than that of the control group (P<0.05); the study group had IL-6 (45.1±4.5) ng/L, Hs-CRP (3.2±0.5) mg/L, TNF-α (62.1±4.5) ng/L, the control group had IL-6 (73.4±7.1) ng/L, Hs-CRP (8.4±1.5) mg/L, TNF-α (96.1±4.6) ng/L, and the study group had significantly lower curative effect (P<0.05). In the control group, symptoms score cough (0.3±0.3), expectoration (0.3±0.1), laryngeal itching (0.2±0.2), symptoms score cough (1.7±0.8), expectoration (1.4±0.6), laryngeal itching (1.1±0.3) in the study group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions was 4.7% in the study group and control group respectively. There was no significant difference between the study group and the control group (P>0.05). Conclusion Shufeng Runfei Jianpi Decoction is effective in alleviating inflammation, reducing the concentration of inflammatory factors and the score of clinical symptoms in elderly patients with cough after pulmonary infection. It is safe and should be further popularized in clinic.