Objective To compare clinical efficacy between microendoscopic discectomy (MED) and open discectomy (OD) in the treatment of patients with lumber intervertebral disc herniation (LIDH).Methods 116 cases of LIDH who were given surgical treatment were selected as research subjects to retrospectively analyze their clinical data.Then,these cases were divided into MED group (n=54) and OD group (n=62) according to operation type.The curative efficacy,operation situation and incidence of complications were compared.Results All patients' operations were successful.After the one-year follow-up,the MED group had an excellent and good rate of 96.3％,which was statistically same with that of 93.5％ in the OD group (P ＞0.05) In comparison with the OD group,MED group had a statistically shorter operation time,less bleeding volume in the operation,shorter length of incision and shorter rest time on bed after operation (all P＜0.05).After operation,there's no case of severe complication,and the incidence of complications between the two groups was statistically same (P＞0.05) Conclusions MED and OD are both effective operations for LIDH,which have high excellent and good rate.But in comparison with OD,MED has advantages of less damage and faster recovery.