Objective To evaluate influence of general anesthesia on postoperative cognition function in the elderly patients by using different methods and choose a better anesthesia method for elderly patients. Methods Forty elderly patients undergoing selective abdominal surgery were selected and divided into two groups: anesthesia was maintained with general anesthesia combined with epidural anesthesia in observe group and with general anesthesia singlely in control group. Vital signs were observed and recorded during operation and blood pressure varied within the extent of 20% of basic level. Cognition function of each patient 24 hours before and 24,48 hours after operation was e-valuated by MMSE method. Results All the patients maintained steady vital signs and there was no significant differ-ence in MMSE scores between two groups at all the time points. There were 11 cases(55% ) who had acute cognitive dysfunction in observe group and 13 cases(65%) in control group 24h after operation(P>0.05) ,5 cases(25%) in observe group and 9 cases(45%) in control group 48h after surgery(P>0.05). Conclusion Compared with single general anesthesia, general anesthesia combined with epidural anesthesia uses less general anesthetics and has less negative effect on postoperative cognition funetion in the elderly patients,it maybe better in elderly patients undergoing non-cardiac operation.