Objective To investigate the effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in patients with spinal cord injury. Methods Forty anxious and depressive patients with spinal cord injury were selected as the control group from December 2012 to October 2013, and another 40 anxious and depressive patients with spinal cord injury as the observation group from November 2013 to September 2014. Patients in the observation group were given the following metheds after admiting for 3 days besides psychological nursing; music therapy once a day, 1 hours one time for 4 weeks. The two groups were compared in terms of the scores by Hamilton anxiety scale (HAMA) scores and Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) before and after treatment. Results There were insignificant differences in HAMA scores and HAMD scores between the two groups before music therapy (P>0.05), but the scores by HAMA and HAMD in the observation group were both significantly lower than those in the control group. Conclusion Music therapy can alleviate anxiety and depression of patients with spinal cord injury, and promote the functional recovery.