Abstract: Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics and long-term recurrence of different types of parotid tumors. Methods A retrospective analysis of 157 patients with primary parotid tumors treated in our hospital from March 2011 to December 2015 was performed. All patients were taken tumor resection, intraoperative frozen tissue biopsy sent to pathological examination. The clinical data of different types of patients were compared, the incidence of postoperative complications and postoperative recurrence, and Cox regression model was used to analyze the risk factors of relapse. Results A total of 142 benign tumors were detected, of which, pleomorphic adenoma (PA) and Warthin's tumor (WT) were relatively high (63.06% and 24.20%). There were 15 malignant tumors were detected. Malignant and WT patients were both significantly higher than patients with PA in age (all P<0.05). The proportion of smoking, the index of smoking and the diameter of tumor were significantly higher than those in patients with PA and malignant tumor (all P<0.05). The incidence of postoperative complications in patients with malignant tumors and WT was higher than patients with PA. During 28 to 60 months of follow-up, 10 patients with WT and 11 patients with malignant tumor developed recurrence without relapse in patients with PA, and the risk of recurrence in patients with WT was significantly lower than that in patients with malignancy [HR=0.132, 95% CI (0.041, 0.425), P<0.001]. Cox regression showed that postoperative smoking was an independent risk factor for recurrence in patients with WT [HR=2.794, 95% CI (1.304, 9.625), P<0.001]. Conclusion PA and WT are the most common types of primary parotid tumors, of which, the age at onset, the male ratio and the smoking index of Warthin's tumor are obviously higher, and the patients with WT and malignancy have a higher incidence of postoperative complications, postoperative smoking is an independent risk factor for recurrence in patients with WT.