Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical outcomes of breast conserving surgery and modified radical mastectomy for early breast cancer. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted in patients with early stage breast cancer admitted to our hospital from January 2008 to April 2012. According to surgery techniques, patients were divided into breast conserving group and modified radical group. The local recurrence rate, distant metastasis rate, 5-year disease-free survival rate (DFS) and cosmetic effect were compared between the two groups. Results There were 237 cases included in our study, with 110 cases in breast conserving group and 127 cases in modified radical group with average age of (42.03±9.65) years. There was no significant difference in local recurrence rate (3.6% vs 4.7%, P=0.755), distant metastasis rate (5.4% vs 7.0%, P=0.607) and DFS (93.6% vs 92.1%, P=0.629)between two groups. At 1 year after surgery, the cosmetic effect of breast conserving surgery group was significantly better than that of the modified radical group (Z=-5.162, P＜ 0.001). Conclusion The surgical outcome of breast conserving surgery is similar to that of modified radical mastectomy, while the cosmetic effect of breast conserving surgery is better.