Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical effect of minimally invasive posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) in the treatment of lumbar spondylolisthesis. Methods Total 98 cases of lumbar spondylolisthesis were selected from our hospital from March, 2012 to March, 2015. According to the random number table method, he patients were randomly divided into observation group and control group of 49. In the observation group, there were 31 cases of male patients and 18 female patients, including 29 cases of lumbar isthmic spondylolisthesis and 20 cases of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis; according to the standard of Meyerding classification:Ⅰ spondylolisthesis in 23 cases, Ⅱ 26 cases of spondylolisthesis. In the control group, there were 30 cases of male patients and 19 female patients, including 30 cases of lumbar isthmic spondylolisthesis and 19 cases of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis; according to the standard of Meyerding classification:Ⅰ spondylolisthesis in 22 cases, Ⅱ 27 cases of spondylolisthesis. The control group received open lumbar interbody fusion therapy, while the observation group received minimally invasive posterior lumbar interbody fusion. Results The intraoperative blood loss, time to ambulation after the surgery and postoperative drainage volume in the observation group were better than those of the control group (P < 0. 05); The excellent and good rate (89. 80%) in the observation group was higher than that of the control group (63. 26%), P < 0. 05. VAS score in 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months after the treatment in the observation group was lower than those in the control group (P < 0. 05), and was reverse for JOA score and ODI score (P < 0. 05). Conclusion The minimally invasive PLIF in the treatment of lumbar spondylolisthesis has significant clinical effect, and it is of great significance.