Objective To compare the early outcomes of laparoscopic and open resection and evaluate the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic surgery in patients with colorectal cancer aged ≥ 70 years.Methods A total of 91 consecutive patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma underwent surgery in Yizheng City People's Hospital between Jan.2009 and Dec.2015.In 91 patients included in this study,38 received laparoscopic surgery and 53 underwent open surgery.Main outcome measures were clinical data,postoperative recovery status and short-term outcomes.Results There were no significant differences between two groups with respect to demographic indicators,clinicopathological results and chronic comorbidities had no significant difference between two groups.No death cases occured in both groups.One patient in the laparoscopic group required conversion to open surgery due to ureteral injury.Laparoscopic surgery was associated with significantly longer operating time [(238 ± 71.3) minutes vs (175 ± 60.8) minutes,P ＜ 0.001],less estimated blood loss [(145 ± 58 ml) vs (186 ± 45) ml,P ＜ 0.001)],a shorter postoperative hospital stay [(11.9 ± 3.9) days vs (14.5 ± 3.7) days],lower overall postoperative complication rate (23.7％ vs 45.3％,P =0.035),wound-related complication rate (2.6％ vs 22.6％,P =0.017) when compared with open surgery.Quality of surgical specimen,lymph nodes harvested were not significantly different between two groups.Conclusion Laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery is safe and feasible in elderly patients,associated with better short-term outcomes when compared with open surgery.