【Objective】 To investigate the clinical features and prognostic factors of elderly patients with localized renal cell carcinoma after operation. 【Methods】 Clinical data of all elderly patients (60-100 years old) with localized renal cell carcinoma who underwent primary tumor resection during 2004 and 2017 in United States National Cancer Institute (SEER) database were collected.The clinical features, surgical methods and prognosis were analyzed.According to the surgical methods, the patients were divided into partial nephrectomy (PN) group and radical nephrectomy (RN) group.The effects of the two surgical methods on the prognosis were compared. 【Results】 A total of 20 348 patients were included.The median survival time was 164 months, and the 3-, 5- and 10-year cumulative overall survival rates were 91.1%, 84.2% and 64.4%, respectively.Multivariate Cox analysis showed that age, sex, race, histological grade, T stage and surgical method were independent prognostic factors for overall survival (P<0.05).Subgroup survival analysis showed that the prognosis of PN was superior to that of RN in all age groups, gender, race, histological grade and T1 stage renal cell carcinoma (P<0.05).For T2 stage renal cell carcinoma, there was no significant difference in the prognosis between patients who received PN or RN (P>0.05). 【Conclusion】 Old age, male, black, non-chromophobe cell carcinoma, low degree of differentiation, high T stage of tumor and RN are independent risk factors for the prognosis of elderly patients with localized renal cell carcinoma.PN is the main treatment method and has remarkable therapeutic effects.