Abstract: Objective To compare the clinical outcomes of minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion(MIS-TLIF)versus traditional open posterior lumbar interbody fusion(PLIF) in the treatment of lumbar spondylolisthesis and evaluate the safety and effectiveness of MIS-TLIF. Methods Clinical data about 83 patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis treated in our center from September 2016 to September 2017 were retrospectively analyzed, of which 36 cases were treated by minimally invasive transforminal intervertebral fusion(MIS-TLIF group) and 47 cases were treated by open posterior intervertebral fusion(PLIF group).The differences of the perioperative clinical data, visual analogue scores(VAS) and ODI scores before surgery, at 3 days, 3 months,6 months and 12 months after surgery, and postoperative intervertebral fusion rate and complications between the two groups were compared. Results There was no statistically significant difference in gender, age, level of vertebra involved and slip degree between two groups(all P> 0.05). The length of surgical incision (2.90±0.21) cm vs (7.69±1.33) cm, hospitalization cost (71.49±12.08)thousand yuan vs (81.1±20.4) thousand yuan, intraoperative blood loss (111.54±53.49) ml vs (160.54±73.73) ml, postoperative drainage volume 0 ml vs (264.7±81.8) ml, postoperative time to ambulation (1.23±0.43) d vs (2.08±1.21) d and hospitalization time (8.54±2.49) d vs (11.43±4.29) d in the MIS-TLIF group were all significantly lower than those in PLIF group(all P< 0.01).There was no significant difference in operating time between the two groups(P> 0.05). The VAS of lumbago and leg pain and ODI scores in MIS-TLIF group and PLIF group at each postoperative time point were significantly lower than those before surgery(P< 0.001), while the VAS score of lumbago at 3 day and 3 month after surgery in MIS-TLIF group were significantly lower than that in PLIF group(P< 0.05). VAS scores of lumbago and leg pain between the two groups at 6 month and 1 year after surgery had no significant difference(P> 0.05), and ODI score between the two groups had no significant difference(P> 0.05). There was no significant difference in postoperative complication incidence and intervertebral fusion rate between the two groups(P> 0.05). Conclusion MIS-TLIF surgery can obtain the same clinical effect, operation safety and intervertebral fusion rate as traditional PLIF surgery. But MIS-TLIF is superior to PLIF with less intraoperative blood loss, short duration of postoperative immobilization, less hospitalization expenses, lower postoperative back pain residual rate, which can improve the life-quality of patients.