Objective To evaluate the clinical value of magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatogra-phy ( MRCP) and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography ( ERCP) in the diagnosis of obstructive jaundice. Methods MRCP and ERCP were performed in 32 patients with obstructive jaundice, all patients were diagnosed surgically or histopathologically. Results The level of obstruction was diagnosied by MRCP and ERCP with accuracy of 90.6% (29/32) and 82. 8% (24/29) respectively(P =0. 5960) ,whereas the accuracy of combination of MRCP and ERCP reached 96. 9% (31/32) . For the etiologic diagnosis, the accuracy reached 75.0% (24/32) and 72. 4% (21/29) in MRCP and ERCP respectively ( P = 0. 9503) , whereas the accuracy MRCP and ERCP of imcombination reached 93. 8% (30/32) , significantly higher than that of MRCP( P = 0.0387) or ERCP alone(P = 0. 0245). Conclusions MRCP and ERCP are reliable and safe methods for the diagnosis of obstructive jaundice; furthermore, combination of the two procedures could improve the efficacy of diagnosis.