Background: Minimally invasive-transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion has become an effective method to treat lumbar spinal stenosis and is widely used. This article compares the effectiveness of minimally invasive and open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion surgery in treating lumbar spinal stenosis. Methods: From 9/2018 to 10/2022, 104 patients with lumbar spinal stenosis were treated with transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion, including 52 cases in the minimally invasive surgery group and 52 cases in the open surgery group. Parameters such as surgery time, blood loss, postoperative time, hospital stay, and complications were recorded. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to assess low back and leg pain, and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was used to assess pain and functional outcome in preoperation, three months, and six months after surgery. Follow-up plain X ray were taken to evaluate the fusion after 2 years. Results: The two groups found no significant differences in age, sex ratio, and percentage of cause spinal stenosis data. Compared with the open surgery group, the minimally invasive surgery group had less intraoperative blood loss (127.50 ± 27.99 mL vs 25.12 ± 62.05 mL, P < 0.001), bed immobilization time shorter (1.21 ± 0.41 days versus 2.40 ± 0.60 days, P < 0.001) and shorter postoperative hospital stay (4.42 ± 0.94 days versus 6.77 ± 1.13 days, P < 0.001). VAS scores of low back pain and leg pain and ODI scores of the two groups decreased statistically significantly compared to before surgery, but there was no difference between the two groups after six months. X-ray showed no significant difference in fusion of the two groups. Conclusion: Our study showed that minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion is a safe and effective option in treating lumbar spinal stenosis and has the advantage of less blood loss and less hospital stay compared to open surgery.